I still don't get how Ishgardian astrology was supposed to work

Throughout the Dragonsong War, their astrologians claimed to track the movement of Nidhogg's forces by watching the Dragonstar. A star that we now know is mostly a polluted wasteland due to the war with the Omicrons, and that Midgardsormr had fled from before he settled on Hydaelyn/Etheirys.

So why would watching a dead star allow Ishgard's astrologers to know movement of the Dravanian Horde? Or were Forlemort and others just talking out of their ass the entire time about "tracking the horde's movements"?

Its nonsense anyways as the light of said star - and most likely its aether as well would take thousends if not millions of years... I never got how that was supposed to work lol

But also i dont think they literally meant the star of his homeworld.

The Doylist explanation is that they hadn't thought about that back in HW. The Watsonian answer is that the planets still give off aether, and Astrology would read how said aether affects Hydaelin/Etheyris and that should give them insight into how the horde is planning to attack. This... shouldn't be how it works but it's a fantasy game and we're not given evidence that it works all the time, either. It's a translation over how real life astrology (I know, but bear with me) operates on the belief that planets have their own magnetic fields (well, this part isn't so much a belief, it's true but likely doesn't affect our lives the way Astrologists believe it to) and reading their movements can help predict... idk

Faculty of Astronomy quests spoilers

That planets give their own aetheric fields is actually confirmed in this questline, as it deals with finding a star that doesn't show up on telescopes. It's revealed that the reason it doesn't is because its light is so small or downright non-existant, that modern telescopes that use mirrors can't find it, but looking for its AETHER can locate it.

It doesn't confirm that Ishgardian Astrology can actually predict dragon movements, but it does say that they started on the right-ish track that the star (dead as it may be) is still giving off light and an aetherial field that can be seen from "our" planet.

Both Ishgardian and Sharlayan forms of astrology are essentially real-world forms of divination being elevated to the point of legitimacy through magic. It's just that while Sharlayan astrology is formed of more personal fortunes and so has healing components to it to boot, Ishgardian astrology is aiming much broader, using the stars to make greater predictions about the future.

Essentially, Sharlayan astrology is a direct fortune telling (hence why its main job mechanic is a tarot spread), Ishgardian astrology is horoscopes. And Far Eastern geomancy is Feng Shui.

That said, I think we're generally meant to believe that all three of them work, it's just that in the case of Ishgardian astrology, there is a marked difference between 'works' and 'useful'.

It had to be true. The npc's say it works. And Middy directly mentions it as well while the star was shining in the background.

Either it's just a dragon cultural thing they made up living on earth, deciding the best course of action depending on the pulse of their star for warrior goodluck. Or they have some kind of boost from their star similarly to sharlayan Astrologian using aether from space. So they always exploit that advantage for attacks.

Keep in mind, that light/aether may take millions of years to reach the planet but it reaches the exact same time a dragon and astrologian observes them. Astrologian at least has tools to predict and map the likelyhood the star is at it's "prime" beforehand

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Originally Posted by Cleretic

Ishgardian astrology is aiming much broader, using the stars to make greater predictions about the future.

Essentially, Sharlayan astrology is a direct fortune telling (hence why its main job mechanic is a tarot spread), Ishgardian astrology is horoscopes.

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No magick or fortune-telling needs to be involved in Ishgardian astrology - it is closer to what we would call astronomy.

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Guillestet: Since the discovery by Adaunel the Younger that the Dravanian Horde were using the relative position of a celestial body we now refer to as the dragon star to determine their attacks on the Holy See, we have ever been seeking to decipher the dragons' code. Theories constructed here are subsequently taken south to the Observatorium where they are put into practice.

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In other words, the dragons have been using the star as a semaphore, and by extrapolating the path of celestial objects, Ishgardians attempt to predict their attack schedule.

But the word astronomy is unknown to Eorzeans; they use astrology to describe both the Ishgardian and the Sharlayan school.

That, of course, still leaves many gaps in the lore for fans to fill. The description certainly doesn't completely preclude Ishgardian astrology from using magicks or fotune-telling. Another open gap is, what is the position relative to?


(P.S. and if you're writing fanfiction, you can totally rule that the Dravanians also use the light/aether of the dragon star to coordinate attacks. That could explain how Ishgardian predictions are not always accurate.)

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Originally Posted by JepMZ

It had to be true. The npc's say it works. And Middy directly mentions it as well while the star was shining in the background.

Either it's just a dragon cultural thing they made up living on earth, deciding the best course of action depending on the pulse of their star for warrior goodluck. Or they have some kind of boost from their star similarly to sharlayan Astrologian using aether from space. So they always exploit that advantage for attacks.

Keep in mind, that light/aether may take millions of years to reach the planet but it reaches the exact same time a dragon and astrologian observes them. Astrologian at least has tools to predict and map the likelyhood the star is at it's "prime" beforehand

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I like this explanation. Makes more sense in-universe than divination, at any rate.

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Originally Posted by Kuroka

Its nonsense anyways as the light of said star - and most likely its aether as well would take thousends if not millions of years... I never got how that was supposed to work lol

But also i dont think they literally meant the star of his homeworld.

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One way to explain this is if our own closest neighboring star 'Betelgeuse' exploded at the exact moment you read this post, it will still appear as it did last night in the sky, and will continue to do so for hundreds if not thousands of years. You have to right of it due to amount of time it takes light to get from one point to another in the known universe. So if we were to ever witness Betelgeuse explode, that would mean it happened a really, really long time ago.

It's so interesting to think about light in this manner, as it makes it impossible to see things in the present. So next time anyone tells you to stop living in the past... well ;p

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Originally Posted by Zohar_Lahar

Throughout the Dragonsong War, their astrologians claimed to track the movement of Nidhogg's forces by watching the Dragonstar. A star that we now know is mostly a polluted wasteland due to the war with the Omicrons, and that Midgardsormr had fled from before he settled on Hydaelyn/Etheirys.

So why would watching a dead star allow Ishgard's astrologers to know movement of the Dravanian Horde? Or were Forlemort and others just talking out of their ass the entire time about "tracking the horde's movements"?

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How do we know Ishgardian Dragonstar is the same star Midgardsormr came from?

Each planet has its own life-stream, maybe the dragons, especially Middy and the first brood that originally came from there, retain some link to their original world through that.

When the Dragonstar aligns with X, Y & Z it's aetherial fields will be particularly swole, and by extension so will Nidhogg's own aether, an attack is likely at that point. Something like that.