Lorebook: Rapiers

Speaking of the flood, there's something that confuses me a bit about Ala Mhigo.

So elezen were the first to return to Eorzea after the flood, meaning Eorzea was abandoned after the flood.

But some things seem to point toward Ala Mhigo being founded by survivors of the flood, following the red star to a safe haven? Their national anthem seems to highly imply this, and ala mhigo's largest demographic is highlander hyur. So I'm a bit confused as to the time frame of the founding of ala mhigo, or the settling of Gyr Abania in general post flood.

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Originally Posted by Bright-Flower

So I'm a bit confused as to the time frame of the founding of ala mhigo, or the settling of Gyr Abania in general post flood.

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Ala Mhigo wasn't founded until 1135 6AE. Before Anshelm Cotter unified Gyr Abania, the region was home to various tribes and peoples that warred with one another back and forth since the Flood.

So Elezen count themselves as one of the first races to "return" to Eorzea after the Flood and spread back out across the continent from Gyr Abania. Later, three migratory waves of Hyur would return and force the Elezen out of their lands and force them to the Shroud and Coerthas to form Gelmorra and pre-Ishgard. Presumably, the exodus of the Elezen westward is why Gyr Abania today has such a high Hyuran population as peace wasn't achieved between the two races for many centuries yet.

Sounsyy hit the key point: Gyr Abania was a safe haven for peoples of many races and nations a thousand years before Ala Mhigo came into being.

There's some interesting context for this, as well. Once the Sixth Astral Era was underway, people were (as they tend to do when not unified over a greater threat, such as extinction by drowning) squabbling over all sorts of resources. The Highlanders of Gyr Abania especially took to this lifestyle, with factions rising and falling and allying against one another left and right. Meanwhile, between the years 500 and 900, the thriving civilizations of Eorzea raised the first great cities:

550: Ishgard
737: Belah'dia
740: Gelmorra
875: Limsa Lominsa

This push/pull (squabbling/cities) caused racial tension to spike even higher, and drew the races to the cities where they were the most populous. Elezen who had not already moved onto Coerthas or fled into the deepwood to escape the Hyur (giving rise to the Wildwood Elezen clan) would have traveled to Ishgard or Gelmorra around this time. The Roegadyn either went to the Farreach or Limsa Lominsa. The Lalafell to Limsa Lominsa or Thanalan. The Miqo'te kept to their own groups unless they integrated into the city life, and of course the Hyur went just frickin' everywhere.

This more or less left the Highlanders free to keep beating the seven hells out of one another until Cotter unified them and Ala Mhigo was raised.

I think it's mostly the migration back to Eorzea part that confuses me, because it seems on one hand that Eorzea, which includes Gyr Abania, was abandoned until the Elezen returned to be the first settlers, yet on the other hand it also seems like there were people living in Gyr Abania post flood. So I'm a bit confused if Gyr Abania doesn't count in terms of the elezen being the first to migrate back to Eorzea, or if maybe the survivors of the flood in gyr abania eventualy left and then the elezen were the first to come back? It seems like maybe the former if people kept living in Gyr Abania between the flood and the founding of Ala Mhigo.

I suspect it's just a matter of how literally should each word be taken?

When someone says, "The continent was abandoned," is that claim invalid if there is a single person somewhere on the continent? Or is it enough that civilization as it was known has collapsed? That culture has vanished, that cities have fallen into ruin, that the population has radically fallen to the point that any shared identity beyond small clans and tribes is impossible? Most of Eorzea's people fled the realm entirely; some just hunkered down where ever the land was too high for the waters to reach. Gyr Abania just happened to be one of the most elevated areas (and right next to Ilsabard, at that).

It's a bit like asking, "If the Mayans 'disappeared,' how are there still people with Mayan heritage?"

Most of us I think would consider Chernobyl "abandoned," but even the 1,000 square miles of the Exclusion Zone is home to ~200 people.

And even then, the migration back to Eorzea was not as if one massive caravan led by a dude with a bullhorn decided, "Alright, we're all going back!" Think of how ill-informed the commonfolk are in general; now imagine them after the collapse of civilization. Technology, culture, history, all more or less collapse. Not everything vanishes, but the ability to preserve, maintain, steward, preserve most information is gone.

Then, eventually, a group of Elezen decides, "Hey, let's explore over there." and descends into the lowlands of Eorzea to find it lush and pristine. They don't know to think, "Oh, wow, look how nature has reclaimed all of this because of the flood." They see unspoiled nature and think, "We have arrived at the promised land! A gift from the gods!"

They stay, they flourish, they build a group identity. That group grows and splinters. Other groups arise an disperse. If they run into a Miqo'te or a Lalafell here are there, how would they to know think, "Ah, yes, this is a descendant of Mhach whose ancestors were left behind in the exodus of the great flood but must have found refuge in a small mountain hamlet, and now the clan that remains is traveling to the desert to raise a new post-Mhachi civilization" rather than, "Oh, hey, who's that dude? Just a dude, I guess."

Then one day this huge caravan of Hyur show up and they're like, "Come on, man! We left you like, that whole other continent! The Gods gave this to us!"

But the secret's out. "LOTS OF FERTILE LAND AND OPEN SPACE OVER HERE, LADS." Cue immigration from all directions and peoples. Civilization begins anew.

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Originally Posted by Anonymoose

An aside, it makes you wonder how Ganelon got the title "Count", right? I even made sure that was the intended title. (It was.)

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I think that ended up being both the same detail that caused me to muddle my timeline with an Ishgardian assumption, and a really good point itself. I'm not sure how else we'd end up with much more detail on him so I suppose I'll just go with fingers crossed for future RDM job quest lore goodies! Mostly I just want to say thanks for that breakdown tho. Makes sense and I totally get how i interpreted it differently -- and I agree your take sounds better. Being accidentally wrong on reddit paid off!