So about the five years between the Calamity

So since I couldn't log in on PS4 I decided that the best use of my time would be watching the intro movies again since they're pretty cool and well animated.

But the ARR one got me thinking: the adventurers from 1.0 were transported 5 years into the future, which explains how they survived Eorzea being reduced to ashes by Bahamut, but apparently the other NPCs have been around in the "realm reborn" from minute 1 after Bahamut's attack? How did they manage to survive without also being transported into the future, am I missing something?

EDIT: wew just noticed I forgot to finish the title, it's supposed to be "between the Calamity and the start of ARR" but ah well, that's what happens when you go on the forums right after waking up lol

Watch the "Flames of Truth" cinematic, either on YouTube or by clearing T12 in Coil. That cinematic pretty much answers your question, as it's pretty much the continuation of the ARR intro cinematic.

Not quite though, that just explains what happened to Louisoix and Bahamut, not specifically how the GC leaders and assorted npcs survived, which is partially explained back early in ARR's story during the envoy quests: Merlwyb explained that after Lousioix's sealing spell failed and Bahamut unleashed Megaflare on Louisoix, everything suddenly went white and she lost consciousness, eventually coming to some time later on the "still flaming battlefield" to find Bahamut had disappeared.

So really, it was basically just dumb luck for those who survived (also as seen in the End of an Era/New Beginning/Flames of Truth videos, the GC leaders at least were not directly fighting in the battle but were watching from afar on chocobos, so survival was more likely the further from the actual battle you were. Not to mention in the above trailers both the Alliance soldiers and the Garlean troops fled from the battle as soon as Bahamut burst out of Dalamud, deciding discretion was the better part of valour.).

The "Tales from the Calamity" side stories cover a little of the aftermath, particularly Kan-E and Merlwyb on the battlefield, and also Nanamo in Ul'dah.

Though it all kinda gets mashed together in the re-tellings, the adventurers who stood with Louisoix were actually some of the last combatants on the field. All hells broke loose when Bahamut appeared; a good deal of the VIIth Legion was annihilated (having entrenched themselves right at Dalamud's point of impact, hence Louisoix's rallying of the Alliance to fight them back so he could summon there), the battle lines buckled, and everyone started running. The Grand Companies ordered the enlisted to re-form and cover the retreat of volunteer forces before making their own withdrawal.

Louisox and Bahamut further destroyed Carteneau Flats and devastated the aetherial rivers (before Louisoix tried his best to restore as much aether as possible to the Land, hence everything rejuvenating relatively quickly but not quite as it was). Aside from that, most of the damage was projectile in nature. If you weren't hit by flying debris or crushed in a stampede or burned in a fire or anything, you had an "OK" chance of survival.

While I agree that a number of the more famous NPCs had plot armor, if you take into account those traveling with the army, those protected in fortified parts of the city-states, and the vast number of NPCs who vanished after 1.0 (many of whom have had their names recycled), the body count is still pretty high.

https://ffxiv.gamerescape.com/wiki/Category:Missing_NPC
Poor Gogorano, I kinda miss him (kinda).