Why was Sharlayan abandoned?

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Originally Posted by Iscah

Maybe I'm reading too much into it, but there's certainly room for something strange and ancient to be going on with this.

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Like perhaps...somebody with a powerful enough Echo who is able to glimpse the future much like how Mikoto does in the Ivalice and Bozja content, except on a grander level?

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Originally Posted by RyuDragnier

Like perhaps...somebody with a powerful enough Echo who is able to glimpse the future much like how Mikoto does in the Ivalice and Bozja content, except on a grander level?

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By gum, you're right!

It's Misija! Again, somehow! Queen Gunnhildr, back at it again!

Makes me wonder what they would do if Garlemald tried to invade Old Sharlayan. Like would they try and just up and move somewhere else or would they FINALLY acknowledge 'actually maybe it's okay to defend yourself against aggressors.'

At a guess, Sharlayan will never acknowledge the need for defense until the damage actually assaults them directly in their oh-so-pure city.

(Still wrathful at the destruction of the Dancers in Radz-at-Han during the Endwalker trailer).

Seeing as Sharlayan has no issues sending assassins and mercenaries after rogue Sharlayans, I'm sure they wouldn't have any issue defending themselves if attacked. They aren't pacifists at least, and probably would justify defense of the mother land as Not War if attacked.

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Originally Posted by Anonymoose

The Antitower was constructed after finding deep subterranean tunnels (circa 1311) that seemed ideal for studying the aetherial sea. During the 1562 exodus, they had planned to destroy it on the way out but, as it was so valuable, they ultimately decided to lock it behind a ton of wards instead. After all, if you've been using it as a research observatory for over 200 years, how long could it possibly take - relatively speaking - for a war to wrap up? If y'all end up speaking some "Venat left the Mothercrystal if 1320 and has been hanging out in Sharlayan ever since" into existence... <shakes fist>

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Too late, by acknowledging it you've made it fanon. By this time next week I predict at least 3 threads about Venat secretly working with the Sharlayans, only differing by having her be benevolent or malevolent.

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Originally Posted by Iscah

Where are you getting the exact details that they found tunnels there and that they planned to destroy it on the way out? I can't see that noted in the lorebook.

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In the other lorebook!

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In the year 1311 of the Sixth Astral Era, scholars from the northern nation of Sharlayan discovered natural caverns that descended deep into the subterrane of the Dravanian hinterlands. Judging the site ideal for observing the aetherial sea—the heart of Hydaelyn Herself—they constructed an observatory, the Antitower, and proceeded to study the fate of the very star. As the tower underwent expansion, so too did the little settlement that serviced it grow. This settlement came to assume the role of a waypoint for successive scholarly expeditions to Eorzea before eventually blossoming into the city-state of Sharlayan.

Generations later, as the exodus drew near, there were calls for the Antitower to be demolished in order to prevent its misuse. However, its immeasurable academic value ultimately prevailed, and instead it was locked behind a slew of protective seals, whose care was left to the lone individual who chose to remain behind, the Archon Matoya.

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I feel like Sharlayan's public motives for abandoning the colony are their primary ones; maybe Sharlayan had some secret ulterior motives but I have to assume they're secondary. Firstly, the evacuation was something that was planned out for a long time; you have to remember that they basically abandoned the colony literally overnight, it wasn't something that just happened. Secondly, they did make serious attempts at trying to court Garlemald for peace/neutrality and we've seen they aren't completely opposed to the idea as shown by countries like Radz-at-Han and Koshu who maintain their independence despite being located very closely to Garlean-controlled territories. Finally, and most importantly to me, they allowed people to remain behind in the evacuation if they wished to. We've seen that Sharlayan can have an extremely strict laws imposed on their citizens and are not unwilling to assassinate or torture their own citizens to ensure that they follow their perceived ideals; while it could be argued that this is just an extremist faction with the country, we know that this group does have seating within the forum empowering it. For this reason, I cannot imagine them allowing someone like Matoya, who is both a powerful and knowledgeable individual and was a frequent critic of the Sharlayan forum to stay in the ruins of the colony for years following the evacuation if they were trying to cover something up there.

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Originally Posted by Cleretic

I'm someone who really like a 'no hidden motives, just raw politics' angle every so often (especially in a setting where sometimes things are secretly weirder than that, it's nice to get confirmation it doesn't always turn out that way), so I honestly really want to just find out that it turns out that Sharlayan are just cowards who 'remain neutral' by running away from conflict.

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Yeah, I'm pretty sure it was a purely political move. They are currently willing to let the rest of the world burn to stay neutral, so I'm not surprised that they'd retreat from Eorzea to avoid war (even though ironically Ishgard was largely untouched by the Eorzean/Garlean war).

With all their divinity they thought it best to lead a exodus away from the idylshire colony rather than bend at the knee for the empire.

They are hyper neutral to conflict and looking forward to see what’s up with that