The Mysteries of Vana 'Diel

[Matty]

This thread is fantastic. So glad to see I'm not the only one who was mystified by the coeurl. I've got a few questions of my own...

What is the exact relation between dragoon wyverns and wild wyverns? Are they simply the juvenile form of the wild ones and the forelimbs atrophy and are absorbed by the body as they mature, or are they just a similar, related species? Achtelle and Bravo seem to point towards the former, but every so often (read: constantly) you hear people calling their wyverns baby wyrms.

What is the significance of Elvaan middle initials and how are they chosen? Are they short for something, or do they just think their names would look fancier with a single letter in the middle? The closest I've been able to find is that children might inherit their mother's middle initial. At least that's what the royal family seems to do.

Why are there Colibri in Quon in the past? Are they escaped pets, or were they once native to the middle lands?

And of course, the most pressing question of all; Does catnip affect Mithras?

Can't wait to see more answers!

[Alymorel]

Ok, so, the Crystal War took place in 862-864. It is now 1130. That is a difference of 266-268 years. I have been told by RL people and IG NPCs that the crystal war took place twenty years ago. Also, some of the characters you meet haven't aged more than about twenty years. However, if you do the math, roughly 227 years have passed since the game has released (There was rounding, leap years not taken into account, and counting a Vana'diel day as 57 minutes on rough estimation).

What's up with that?

[Mirage]

Maybe the clock started running in the beta servers.

[Sparthos]

Ok, so, the Crystal War took place in 862-864. It is now 1130. That is a difference of 266-268 years. I have been told by RL people and IG NPCs that the crystal war took place twenty years ago. Also, some of the characters you meet haven't aged more than about twenty years. However, if you do the math, roughly 227 years have passed since the game has released (There was rounding, leap years not taken into account, and counting a Vana'diel day as 57 minutes on rough estimation).

What's up with that?

Would you prefer if everyone were skeletons for accuracy?

[Alymorel]

Would you prefer if everyone were skeletons for accuracy?

Well we adventurers are magical things with the ability to say "F*** you!" to the laws of time, space, and physics. We'd never be skeletons. Some accuracy and clarity, however, would be kinda nice. :P

[Urthdigger]

Ok, so, the Crystal War took place in 862-864. It is now 1130. That is a difference of 266-268 years. I have been told by RL people and IG NPCs that the crystal war took place twenty years ago. Also, some of the characters you meet haven't aged more than about twenty years. However, if you do the math, roughly 227 years have passed since the game has released (There was rounding, leap years not taken into account, and counting a Vana'diel day as 57 minutes on rough estimation).

What's up with that?

The in-game time has no correlation to time as far as quests go (For example, you can take years to get your next CS and still manage to beat the NPCs somewhere) It is explicitly stated in one of the WotG missions that present time Vana'diel is in the year 884.

[Xellith]

Why are there Colibri in Quon in the past? Are they escaped pets, or were they once native to the middle lands?

Its said by several NPCs (noticeably the ladybug wing quest) that many species were hunted to extinction and that is why they are no longer around. Some species like colibri could be migratory and according to the game just might not be in the zone at the time but might return at another season.

[Ziyyigo-Tipyigo]

I can certainly believe the colibri in Ronfaure being hunted to extinction...

[Wolfandre]

Now here is my question for which I hope that we could get an answer from the top. What is the deal with the Avatars roaming around the zones like Akash, Buhmi, Jala, and Tejas? Are they the Celestial and Terrestrial Avatars for Abyssea? Were the Celestial Avatars freed from their Proto-Crystals and they are roaming around confused as to what is going on now? Or are they just random monsters that happen to look like and have Avatar abilities and give decent lights?

I had actually been toying with this thought for a while and here's what I came up with.

It was mentioned earlier that it was Carbuncle's plan to create pacts between the five races and the Celestials to prevent their rejoining of the mothercrystals. However, now that Karaha-Buraha and the Champions of Abyssea (read: Vana'dielian Adventurers) are gone and their Summoners with them, the Celestials of Abyssea likely went on a field day.

Pacts are apparently a strong thing with Avatars of all kinds. If not for Nag'molada keeping the pact between the Kuluu and Bahamut (as seen during the CoP 2-5), Bahamut would have destroyed Riverne after appeared and summong Vrtra, Tiamat, and company. Fenrir likely wouldn't have saved Windurst during the Great War either, if not for Karaha and his strong ties to the current Sibyl.

However, the Celestials in Abyssea are likely just running amok for the sake of it. Ever have that feeling where you just wanna lie in bed all day, do nothing, play some FFXI? The Celestials are asleep for millenia and you want them to get up and work? Pffffft. Shinryu is already extradorinarly close to executing their plan for them, so what do they have to do? They might help him along by attempting to destroy the resistance a bit, but the end is neigh, in their eyes, so why not have some fun before Paradise is returned? I mean, it's not like they can go on killing sprees when there's nothing to kill.

Also, remember, not all Celestials are roamers in Abyssea areas. Some are stuck between Abyssea and Vana'dial as Voidwalkers. Which leads me to wonder what happened to Abyssea's Dynamis if Diabolos was similarly corrupt and is a Voidwalker. I have a bad feeling we may see Fenrir, as he is the only one we don't have a monster of/theory for. Bahamut, as someone said, was likely destroyed by Shinryu, Carbuncle said 'Eff it.' The way I see it, actually, Adventurers shouldn't be able to summon in Abyssea for above reasons, unless Avatars can transend dimentional barriers as well. I suppose you could argue that, since Abyssean Avatars can Voidwalk, Vana'dielian Avatars can transcend dimensions. But then that brings up an interesting point: Why is it only the Adventurers of Vana'dial are the only ones that care about Abyssea? You'd think that the Terrestrials would know about it and would want to do something. *shrug*

What I would like to know is what happened to Abyssean Kuluu and why they're even more corrupt as well. In addition to that, and maybe I just haven't done enough quests within Abyssea (realistically, I've done like, four, aside from mega boss quests >.< ), I'd like to know what happened to the Abyssean Beastmen. Surely they met the same fate as the five races, but their story is largely (read: completely) left out. And what of the Mithran Homeland (why can no one remember what it's called? thought it started with a 'G'...), Aht Urghan, and the Far East? Am I leaving out a continent to the west and/or the homeland of the Orcs/Gigas to the north? MOAR CAVERNOUS MAWS PLS.

As I'm typing this, I'm answering my own question, but left it up for conversation sake. The Tonberries blindly follow Promaithia and have likely recognized his advent via Shinryu and aligned themselves with him. Sucks for them that they get wiped out when he finishes reforming the mothercrystals.

Also, I understand the need for the mechanic of Relic armor in place in Dynamis, but since it's clearly stated many times the Empire stayed out of the war, why is it the armor of the elite Immortals (you know, the ones that don't go anywhere or do anything without command? likely, this Immortal would have been GIVING the orders), the best court entertainers (c'mon, us PUPs don't much like war...) , and Ephramaudian descendents (aren't they too busy leading a rebellion?) show up in Dynamis areas? I can understand some deserters/travellers...but it's HIGHLY unlikely that the 'best of the best of the best, SIR' decided to travel to Xarcabard and die. I fully understand the reason DNC and SCH gear is there and why it just decided to show up after WotG took place.

Thoughts? Ideas?

[Wolfandre]

I have a bad feeling we may see Fenrir, as he is the only one we don't have a monster of/theory for.

Just thought that maybe he was destroyed when Shinryu took over the moon? Just an idea.