FFXIV story/lore thread

[Rocl]

Nidhogg is kind of an outlier tbh, and the questline I'm thinking of is in fact, his brood returning for their dead.

The dragon lifecycle is all sorts of fucky but I do think it's fair to say dragonet is probably equivalent to like somewhere between toddler and elementary school in RL human terms. We're not sure why some dragons become wyrms or dragons or wyverns or amphipteres etc. Of the top of my head the following should be sentient draconic lifeforms: celestial dragons, adamantoise dragons, amphipteres, brobinyaks, coeurldragons, dragon dragons, dragonets, falaks, vishap, tioman, shield dragons, ancient wyverns, elder wyverns, vouvires, and wyverns. Weredragons (aevis, diresaur, syricta) are all men-into-dragons so ofc they're sentient.

For simplicity's sake I'm going to start saying Spoken, since that's XIV's term for a sentient being (beastmen, mankind, etc). Anyways the "feral" dragons should be shit like: archaeornis, archaeosaurs (incl vinegaroons), dragonflies (xi puk), drakes, elbsts, hydras, peistes and maybe raptors/endymions. Those aren't "true dragons" (as far we've been led to believe-- Hydras are in a fucky place atm) but beasts sort of brainwashed by dragons. They aren't part of the dragon lifecycle.


Anyways here are like a thousand reasons Bahamut was strong: sustained prayers of imprisoned children that may or may not have been clones, the original summoning utilized a shitton of aether via Tiamat's eyes, using the Crystals of Light explanation we know Hydaelyn was stronger in Eras past and we know Primals 'steal' Hydaelyn's aether to form--therefore Primals summoned in earlier eras are default stronger, the Ascians taught a stronger ritual to Tiamat b/c they knew she could pull it off, etc.

[BaneTheBrawler]

makes sense. regarding the dragon lifecycle, i kinda get the impression they can take whatever form they wish, the only restriction being the size is limited by their age/collected aether. But that could just be me reading too much into Midgardsormr doing Midgardsormr stuff.

[Rocl]

If any of you are half as nerdy as me you might like perusing the first edition of a player-made Bestiary (done by Anwyll/Anonymoose)

https://docs.google.com/spreadsheets...gid=2055243359

[Niiro]

A bestiary in a game where there's almost nothing interesting or unique to differentiate mobs from one another besides their appearance is...........eh.

[Rocl]

I don't understand the complaint; is it strictly "monsters don't have weaknesses"? idk wtf else you use a bestiary to define

[Niiro]

In XI mobs had jobs, significant differences in attack power, defense, evasion, accuracy, whether or not they cast magic was very important, what their spell library was also very important, what their TP moves were was IMMENSELY important because you had to deal with the attacks rather than just move out of an indicator.

Mobs had buffs that had to be removed, used enfeebs that you had to deal with, they had strengths and weaknesses, resistances to certain statuses, elemental attacks that you could guard against.

Not to mention the whole mob hierarchy thing that BSTs could take advantage of.

In XIV what's the difference between any 2 given mobs that you would actually need to know? That would actually matter?

[Rocl]

Right and none of that would be listed in a bestiary, it would be listed in a guide.

[solracht]

In XIV what's the difference between any 2 given mobs that you would actually need to know? That would actually matter?

so what you're saying is you're ready to one shot A7S since it's another gobwalker mob

edit: in all seriousness, I can see what you mean but like Rocl said it's not like it's relevant when we're talking about a bestiary

[Niiro]

Boss mobs in dungeons and raids are entirely unique from normal mobs in their mechanics, and those mechanics have nothing to do with the type of mob you're fighting.

The mechanics are abstract gameplay mechanisms, they're very different from a consistent set of rules and trends that govern enemy characteristics, which is what you would expect to find in a video game bestiary.

[Rocl]

I don't understand coming to the lore thread and complaining it's useless for game mechanics.

[Niiro]

Generally what makes a bestiary in a video game interesting is defining the nature of mobs and how that nature relates to the game world as a whole, gameplay included.

A bestiary that is literally a list of mobs is fine, but if it's nothing more than that I think it's inherently uninteresting and probably why there haven't really been many efforts to list and categorize them until now.

The difference between a wyvern, a drake, and a wyrm is inherently more interesting when it effects how the player interacts with them in-game.

[Spira]

That bestiary is very cool. It's definitely a nice way to keep track of what types of monsters/enemies there are out there.

I think the only thing that would really make it that much better is if they had pictures on mouseover or as a link, especially since it seems to differentiate species of the same genus by appearance

[Lokus]

The type of Beastiary Niro wants:

[Niiro]

The type of Beastiary Niro wants:

Something like that.

When I think of a bestiary I think of a picture and a small blurb describing the mob and how it fits into the world with a few bullet points outlining its unique characteristics (strengths/weaknesses) and special attacks.

[haroldsaxon]

So you want a gameplay guide not a Lore Guide?

[ronin sparthos]

So since it's been a while since I've looked at all the XIV lore, the terms 'Primal', 'Elder Primal' and 'Eikon' are all still essentially equivalent yes?

The first is the current term for any creature manifested from prayers and crystal energy.
The second refers to creatures of previous eras manifested from prayer and crystal energy.
The final refers to an Allagan naming scheme for creatures manifested from prayers and crystal energy. Garlemald has adopted the naming scheme since they're wannabe Allag.

Just refreshing myself here since all three terms are being used interchangeably at this point.

Sephirot is a primal, an elder primal, an eikon and a member of the Warring Triad. That's a mouthful.

[BaneTheBrawler]

Pretty much.

I've heard some people insist that they are distinct things, but I think that's nonsense.

[Kaslo]

[BaneTheBrawler]

Veeeeeery interesting. I had kinda suspected "he" was actually Alisae, disguised so that she's out from under Louisoix's shadow or something. It wouldn't be the first time they've hidden the usual tells of someone's race from us.

Also, I'm pretty sure Gaius is dead, so if Unukalhai is his son, I'll bet his "master" is Nero.

[Tekwhat]

Just as the Ascians strive to bring back Zodiark, could it not be that Unukalhai is the equivalent to Hydaelyn, (note the white robe)? We see Zodiark growing stronger and Hydaelyn growing weaker.

Zodiark has warriors of darkness, just like Hydaelyn has warriors of light. Would it not follow the same flow as the astral and umbral ages that there is another group to resurrect Hydaelyn once the scale tips?

Could the image in the video depicting the Ascians strangling Unukalhai be indicative of the struggle between each Ascian level group for the two powers in play?

And just as Hydaelyn is weak, Unukalhai's power could be weak also, such that, we do not detect it, as we do with Ascian's?

Kriles jab that "you want to test your power against the warrior of light" could be, as the Ascians feel they are the true champions of Zodiark, the same could be said for Unu, he wants to prove he is the top level for Hydaelyn.

And the shadow of a man could allude to the fact he hops bodies like the Ascians!