Aether explainations and exceptions

So I encountered an npc (Will edit with name) in Old Gridiana that speaks of a "professor" that while understands that corrupted crystals absorb aether theorizes that there is another variation that exchanges aether into different values such as fire -> ice.

So with the collective understanding we have the normal crystals which are for the sake of argument similar to Magicite, Corrupted crystals similar to XII nethicite, but the conversion is a new idea, and one could say even self weaponized against primals. But then I thought what if the crystal is the element Ramuh has blamed on man. Light and Dark. So light crystals and dark crystals could work like how prisms work on light so that is just naturally splits aether into an array.

But if Aether is born for both the birth of life and the death of it wouldn't the "Crystal" just be actions, events, and history of the living and then the natural manipulation of it that produces the crystals? The monk story line shows that war zones, and great battles have significant draw or creation of aether to the point where it could easily be used to strengthen one , or manipulate those around it, but its just free flowing aether so a chain reaction like the airship explosion Battle of Silver tear would be required to crystalize it.

But then I thought about the job soul stones. One could say they are no different the Auracite from Tactics or the Braves in the relic quest where it just eventually occurs. So if enough death occurs would a dark crystal break into existance? Same for life (Eorzea summer of love, Baby Boomers?) could a light crystal be born?

With 2.4 we have some new information about Aether in response of life and its effect on it. Non specific spoilers ahead


So we have seem examples of aether in pure forms effecting the former living in Pharos Sirius but with Sastasha we have seen aether infusion to a point of change of the still living. According to the resident expert the body of the deceased Captain was infused with Water Aether in a method similar to Tempering or Drowning in the case of Leviathan. It was explained that Aether of one type when unbalances inside the subject it will react as a poison causing death. But in the specific case if surviving was possible your body would mutate into a form closer to creatures that would normal bath in that specific element. In this case it would be that of the squid. So if one of the spoken races are infused with a specific aether over a long period of time in a method that won't kill them out right it could infact change them in a form similar to a mutation.

So we should for common understanding assume Aether works like radiation which means every Aether type different from the subjects own could be used to overall change and hurt them in huge bursts. So it is possible that a Tempered that survives the burning could develop traits similar to that of creatures living in enviorments that resonate with that element desert or volcano. Now with regards to our normal balance it could be specific to the spoken races as they are balanced across the board so if a Beastmen of a certain opposing element went through the same treatment they would not survive even the initial tempering.

In the story we have come across our first piece of manufractured Auracite which reacts in a method similar to Lead when exposed to direct Aether where it absorbs the energy and then disperses it after a short time. The only Aether we have seen given to it is of that of being composed of multiple types of Aether but we have not seen what is truely done to the Aether as it is released. So we can not assume it will react the same if Auracite is exposed to pure elemental energy. But what we do know is that if can be used as a source of power that is not drawn from a living being, so now does Eorzea possess a way to summon a primal with out crystals or a living sacrifice? And if that is true could that tech existed for other beings of the void or the dead civilizations?

If you played FFXI, Dark Crystals were used on items to make them "decay", while Light Crystals were used to "restore" or fix things, such as fishing rods. I only came across one Light Crystal in the whole game, and that's when I defeated a Crawler out in Sarutabaruta. I have always wondered why there are no Light or Dark Crystals to be found in this game, like for crafting. I know that in 1.0, I got a crystal which had its energy drained from it. I forgot what it was called, though. It's un-something, and I can't remember how it was spelt. Got that from fighting a monster in The Black Shroud in 1.0.

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Originally Posted by Naraku_Diabolos

If you played FFXI, Dark Crystals were used on items to make them "decay", while Light Crystals were used to "restore" or fix things, such as fishing rods. I know that in 1.0, I got a crystal which had its energy drained from it.

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Because dark and light are not pure out comes on the elemental wheel. Deaspected crystals was the absence of aether of an element due to Atomos feeding and appearently when the energy is released back into our world it is untained an easily absorbed which is why we could use it as a buff item (stat wise it was a huge buff compared to other buffing items at the time).

This world differs from FFXI alot in reference to the primal source of energy so really very little from FFXI is valid as some systems like return is explained not as a spell like XI blms have which also exist but by innate highways of aether we can attach to and via force of will rematerialize at certian cluster points. The lore systems seem closer to older Final Fantasys such as 4 and 6 then to the lore of 11. Even in 1.0 with how Atomos is and what is truely does which while in a way serves a similar purpose and does a similar action not including time warps it is still an independant being that is a tool for other fiends.

While there are things specifically classified as "evil" such as the void even that doesn't specifically point to umbral as astral and umbral seem more of an intent then an action.

I think Moose has the closest line of thinking among the lore junkies in terms of elemental display:

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Originally Posted by Anonymoose

However, Astral and Umbral exist in all things. There is an Ice Crystal of Light even though ice is an Umbral Element. There an astral and umbral month for every element, even though those elements are themselves astral or umbral. One should be careful not to confuse The Umbral with The Darkness.

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So while time will tell and more lore is gathered specially as the new expansion approaches and we approach a realm that is appearently no where near as aether rich as Eorzea is I believe we will see differences more then just locale.