Religion in Vana'diel

[Mokeil]

Don't forget the side quests involving the backgrounds of the characters involved, Tuning In, Search for Goldmane, Signed in Blood, Into the Depths, and Missionary Moblin. You will learn a lot and definately enrich your understanding of what happens in the main CoP missions. The Tuning In saga is about the Dark Protocrystal and Missionary Moblin also touches on Odin and I think eludes to Alexander.

You know, I rather think I skipped most of those side quests. Most CoP areas were rough places to be a Summoner in back in those days. Thank you for bringing them to mind! I shall make it a point to do them just as soon as I manage to snag a new power supply for my home PC.

Also since your into Summoner, You may not have figured out that when the god says "ye who is one yet many" is an reference to Promathia. And "bring order to the choas" isn't out of good will but everytime an Avatar's power is used it quickens thier awakening and the end of the world.

Now, this is an interesting idea! Do you have proof to back this up, or is it supposition? I'd always interpreted these lines to be more along the lines of a god speaking to a lesser being, while acknowledging that "while you are individuals, you are united in pursuit of a single goal." The idea being that, while we Adventurers are weak on our own, together we can challenge even the gods themselves.

This then tied into another theroy I had...

That they will come, with the wisdom of ages and the strength of thousands, to deliver us from our plight. We await the awakening of the Warriors of the Crystal.

[...]

That star is you, and the song is yours.
And someday, that hope will become our dreams...
Our prayers...
Shine forth, star of hope!
Let your song ring out across all of Vana'diel!
By the strength of our hopes and our prayers...
What was split asunder...
...Will once more become whole.
Complete and inseparable for all eternity.

Having established (via CoP) that we are the true Warriors of the Crystal spoken of in the song, I also theorized that we would also be the ones to re-establish Paradise. Not by reuniting the Great Crystal, as the Zilarts wanted, but rather by reuniting the light of the Mother Crystals as reflected through us, i.e. not in the literal sense, but figuratively. If we can challenge the gods by working together - standing united - we could eventually make Vana'diel a pretty darn spiffy place to live in, too.

Alas, as with most things prophetic, there is little actual proof for my theory. Just my own interpretation on things. But I liked the way it fulfilled the terms of the prophecy/song in a way that didn't end with the world I love being winked out of existence.

O and while somewhat on the crystals why where there never any beastmen crystal warriors i mean looking at the tonberry its obvious the beast men were also made at the same time as the 5 primary races...

I think being a true Warrior of the Crystal is more a meta-physical thing. If you're talking about the Ark Angels, those are Twisted Mockeries created by the Zilart Princes in a mad and desperate attempt to fullfill the terms of the prophecy/song so that they could say, "See? We've got all the pieces just like it says, so we'd like our Paradise back, now, thanks." The Ark Angels also had the benefit of being really nice beat sticks the Zilart could use to keep people in check. It was win-win for them, until we came along and broke their toys.

We (who completed CoP, at least) on the other hand, are the true Warriors not because we were born special, or because we were touched by some arcane power beyond the ken of mortal man, but because we are ourselves, and in being so we embody the virtues of the Crystals (their "light" with which we can push back the darkness). OK, yes, the extra power boost from the light of the Mother Crystals that allowed us to resist Promathia's power helped, but those lights aren't what brought us to that moment - then and there - ready to fight for our world. That was all pure us being awesome.

By and large, the Beastmen are just too tightly wrapped up in the Chains (the five great flaws) to rise to that sort of level. They spend most of their time squabbling and warring and killing. Not to say that the player races haven't made mistakes in their pasts, but I like to think we've gotten better.

[Metaking]

The tonberry are basically what happens to a soul that has eternal life but not eternal youth. With the emptiness removed they rotten and decayed over 10k years into there current form. The other beastmen races are never spelled out except when those races are kimeras. But Esha does say that the myth of promathia's creation of them is wrong. But how ever they were crafted they are equal to the five races as they both react to the song the same way in a cs in the final part of ACP.

And to Rustic's comment I still do not believe what crystal he touched matters. He was attacted to the Crystal Line. My proof is the final fight in RotZ, one of the set of final cs's in Dynamis-Tavnazia, and Apocolipse Nigh. That's all I can say without being spoiler blocked.

" Grav'iton: The Kuluu who survived the happenings of that day fled here. However, the power of the crystals left its mark on us. As time passed, our bodies and minds degenerated into the form you see standing before you. "

also sounds like what could have happened to any zil that survived making the other races too >.>

[Ziyyigo-Tipyigo]

also sounds like what could have happened to any zil that survived making the other races too >.>

Armathrwn Society.

I think the primary difference between the Children of Altana/Promathia and the Beastmen is that the Beastmen are free from "original sin."

[Zhronne]

Back on the topic of Alexander, the ruins get called "Ruins of Al'zadaal" in some place.
Emperor "Al'zadaal" known by everybody as "Alzadaal".
Notice the way it's written? It's zilartian!
Could it be Al'zadaal was originally a Zilart who escaped to the near east?

We'll never know, the end of ToAU is incredibly rushed anyway.

[Bearstar]

I'm adding to my list of Chains of Promathia storyline quests! Beyond Signed in Blood, The Search for Goldmane, Tuning In, Into the Depths, and Missionary Moblin, I've come across A Chocobo's Tale. It is tied to The Search for Goldmane plot wise but is a seperate questline.

[OmnysValefor]

Reincarnation is real in the game world. Why, I remember many times that I died and was reincarnated as a level 74 paladin!