FFXI Plot-holes and unclear issues

[Souj]

I don't believe they ever had crags there.

[Byrthnoth]

I thought crag explosions (at least in Xarc) were responsible for the environmental raep. Antica were responsible for Altepa somehow? I don't remember.

Also, something-something soylent gre.. tonberries are people. Crag in Yhoator? I don't know.

[Souj]

The zilart were going to use their structures to open the gates of paradise. The Kuluu sabotaged it, and caused the structures to "meltdown". All the power irradiated out of Feiyin, changing Xarcabard/B. Glacier into the Icy wasteland it is now. Also killed a lot of zilart and Kuluu I believe. The radiation slowly started turning the Kuluu into Tonberry, and as they were being transformed, they built the Horotoru Ruins and Pso Xja. The Kuluu built Temple of Uglypeople far before that.

Altepa was controlled by the galka far before the Anticans showed up. The Quicksand Caves structures were all Galkan built. The Antica showed up, ran them out of their homes and the Galkan structures slowly fell into disrepeair and began sinking into the sand.

[Septimus]

If you look at the Crag of Mea, the connector points away from Jeuno and towards the Maze of Shakhrami. It then travels under Castle Oztroja (they broke through it in the Altar Room), then it emerges from the mountains and travels to Qufim. Apparently the Zilart did not know that the shortest distance between two points is a straight line. If you rewatch the ZM4 cutscene, Dragora's Spine is floating in the air before the Meltdown, no idea why it wasn't underground like the rest.

[Septimus]

I thought crag explosions (at least in Xarc) were responsible for the environmental raep. Antica were responsible for Altepa somehow? I don't remember.

Also, something-something soylent gre.. tonberries are people. Crag in Yhoator? I don't know.

The Crag of Vahzl was obliterated in the Meltdown, it would be about where Castle Zvahl is right now. (The glowing from the fissures in front of the castle is the Vahzl Mother Crystal.) You can still see the connector from the Crystal line in Xarcabard.

I remember that someone someone wrote that Castle Zvahl was built from the burnt cermet from the former crag, I don't remember that being stated in story, but it is possible that it was in a Japanese supplemental book. It could also be fanon, but I like it so I choose to believe it myself. lol

[Souj]

Guess I was wrong then. Though how did a whole crag in Xarcabard get leveled when Feiyin, the source of the meltdown stay in near perfect condition? I mean, sure it looks like it's been pretty beat up, but most of it is still intact.

[Niiro]

As Sept said/speculated it's completely plausible that it's remains were converted into Zvahl especially given the energy radiating from underneath.

[Souj]

It could in fact be cannon, I just don't think it would have been effected much at all judging from how much damage Feiyin took.
Odds are it's just something they put into the story after Xarcabard zone was created.

[Niiro]

The meltdown didn't turn the crag into zvahl the demons just built the castle where it was, probably to siphon the crag's energy for the shadow lord or some such blah blah.

Doesn't matter how effected the crag would have been, the interior decorator demons were just totally into the black, jagged look.

[Souj]

I know it didn't turn it into the castle lol I'm just saying the crag should have been almost completely intact and they would have had to completely tear down the entire thing.
I'm not saying that's what happened according to the lore, as Sept is probably right, I just want to know how Feiyin survived but that crag didnt

[Restrat]

the mother crystal under the craig blew up, didn't it?

[Rocl]

the mother crystal under the craig blew up, didn't it?

Pretty certain that didn't happen, because that'd leave us with some sort of Abyssea variation.

In fact, I'm pretty certain you visit the Mothercrystal in the Spire of Vahzl during CoP missions...

[Septimus]

Guess I was wrong then. Though how did a whole crag in Xarcabard get leveled when Feiyin, the source of the meltdown stay in near perfect condition? I mean, sure it looks like it's been pretty beat up, but most of it is still intact.

They sabotaged Fei'Yin, but the energy was coming from the Vahzl Mother Crystal. As we know from the many Star Trek shows, feedback loops are very dangerous and the cause of many explosive instrument panel incidents and ship explosions. I would guess that the energy from the Vahzl Mother Crystal had nowhere to go, so it built up in the crag and blew it to smithereens. This would explain why Fei'Yin has some damage, but is still standing mostly in tact, and why Uleguerand Range is also a frozen mess.

But like I said earlier, this is just conjecture from what we know for certain.

[Souj]

Next question!

Teleport-Vahzl
Castle Zvahl

Wryyyyyy!

[Clash Perez]

Transration Error.

That's what I've always assumed, anyway.

[Vinedrai]

Initially connected five crags, right? Including Altepa and Xarcabard?

One of the others is Al'Taieu for sure, not Altepa. Afaik, Galkan reincarnation is resulted by the paradox of the city being in the mother crystal which is in the city so their life is in a loop.

edit: I was thinking of Fei'Yin as the 5th crag from what I could remember about the ZM story but now that I watched ZM4 cutscene again, the destroyed crag is obviously the same as holla/dem/mea while Fei'Yin looks the same as Delkfutt (but now without a tower).

[Souj]

Fei'yin more closely resembles Delkfutt's Tower. They were both used for controlling the power from the mothercrystals.
Ro'maeve and Tu'lia were created for the Gates of Paradise or something.

And as for the 5 mothercrystals;
Mea = Elvaan
Holla = Tarutaru
Dem = Mithra
Vahzl = Hume
Al'Taieu = Galka


The Yhoat and Altep Gate Crystal describe it as a "New type of gate crystal". Meaning it was most likely created by present day people to make travel easier.
The Vazhl Gate crystal is also the same type of "new type of gate crystal", which was also created by present day people, but most likely due to the fact the Crag of Vazhl was M.I.A., so there's no access to the original gate crystal.

If there ever was a Crag of Al'Taieu, I'm not sure. I think the Zilart just built their big capitol building over it for some reason instead.

[Priran]

Castle Zvahl was built by gigas out of obsidian.

[Souj]

So... the answer to what happened to the Crag of Vahzl was simple and actually stated in the game...

ZM4; Grav'iton says:

A fantastic amount of energy was drained from the crystals and focused into Tu'Lia. However, while this was taking place, we Kuluu led an attack on the northernmost ark and destroyed it, putting an end to their abominable plan.

Unfortunately, this act caused the crystals to spin out of control. The world was engulfed in a blinding light, and the Zilart were destroyed.

The land where the Zilart resided sank to the abyssal depths of the sea, while the overwhelming power of the crystals laid waste to the Northlands, leaving them uninhabitable.

[Ocara]

Also in CoP diabolos says the Kuluu asked to have the emptiness taken out of them and he granted their wish, and thats how they became tonberries. There seems to be a lot of 'fake' stories about how things happened (like the meltdown causing the transformation) that they later reveal the 'truth' of. As the writers feel the need to rewrite things, I guess.

Pso'xja existed before the war with the Zilart where the Kuluu blew up the crag/ark in the northlands, it was a city/fortress for them. The cryptonberries are probably the remnants of the kuluu that lived up north.