Wisdom about the Wise

I love the archaic terms in this game. (Ask my co-workers about how I've started using "anyroad" in conversation.) Today, I'm curious about Agelyss Wise.

You may know Agelyss Wise as the Eastern La Noscean site of Castrum Occidens. Back in 1.0 there wasn't much there, with the exceptions of an aetherial gate and a lot of things that wanted to murder you. Clearly, the Agelyss in the name is related to the Agelyss River that flows nearby (interesting side note: the Agelyss River seems to flow in two separate directions, east-to-west out in Middle La Noscea and west-to-east over in Eastern La Noscea. I suspect its source is in Brayflox's Longstop.) I think that Agelyss is a corruption/misspelling of "ageless", though I'm not certain.

But when it comes to the Wise in Agelyess Wise, I don't know where to begin. It seems like that's referring to a geographic feature, Agelyss being the adjective to its noun. Does anyone have any insight here?

http://etymonline.com/index.php?term...wed_in_frame=0

I'd say it's being used in the sense of "way," even though the historic uses seem more limited to a "way of acting" than to a "way or physical path."

That seems like a reasonable etymology. Just like something may be in a clockwise direction, meaning you follow the path of a clock, the Agelyss Wise follows the path of the Agelyss. Maybe. (Confirmation of some sort would be nice, but I don't know that this is a big enough deal to bother with.)

Relatedly, how does one pronounce Agelyss? I've been saying AH-guh-liss, but if it is a corruption of "Ageless" then it might be pronounced differently. Really, I wish I just had a full pronunciation guide sometimes.

The ruins of an archaic road, Agelyss Wise's age is so great that some scholars hypothesize that it was already old in the days of ancient Allag.

— In-game description

Agelyss Wise just means exactly what it is: ancient way / road

I wanted to find this "road" from a flying mount (i think when this thread occured you couldn't fly in La Nocsea) but still failed miserably. Not a hint of the actual ancient road or its bed. Remains may have been destroyed by the Dalamud splinter around which the castrum was built. (if there had been any - because there wasn't anything already in 1.0). Maybe that is why it is called Agelyss Wise and not actually Agelyss Via or Agelyss Rad because no paving survived, only the passage - maybe it was cut in landscape. It is yet unclear whether the small trench in rock under the moon shard was remnant from the roadway, or it was cut by the shard, or by Garlean researchers...

Quote:

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Originally Posted by Skotique

The ruins of an archaic road, Agelyss Wise's age is so great that some scholars hypothesize that it was already old in the days of ancient Allag.

— In-game description

Agelyss Wise just means exactly what it is: ancient way / road

I wanted to find this "road" from a flying mount (i think when this thread occured you couldn't fly in La Nocsea) but still failed miserably. Not a hint of the actual ancient road or its bed. Remains may have been destroyed by the Dalamud splinter around which the castrum was built. (if there had been any - because there wasn't anything already in 1.0). Maybe that is why it is called Agelyss Wise and not actually Agelyss Via or Agelyss Rad because no paving survived, only the passage - maybe it was cut in landscape. It is yet unclear whether the small trench in rock under the moon shard was remnant from the roadway, or it was cut by the shard, or by Garlean researchers...

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I just came across this wiki entry myself and, given its location on Vylbrand which we know was near Amaurot cus of the First, it has me wondering if the Agelyss Wise was a vestige of an Ancients' roadway to the capitol.

(cross posting this in the lore forum, btw, if interested.)