Question regarding the map of Eorzea

While checking out the map of Eorzea I noticed something on it I never paid much attention to. On the lower left corner of it you have this:

http://puu.sh/3z1gM/336c372399.png

Those 4 symbols at the top are obviously the 4 main city-states, but what about those below? Hamlets? I don't recall the Hamlets having their own flag though.

Thank you for asking! I always wondered when I looked at the map, but never got around to asking.

/call the lore masters

Quote:

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Originally Posted by Addicted

[W]hat about those below?

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I wouldn't discount the smaller symbols as being cities/townships. The "big four" there are the official members of the Eorzean Alliance, which was originally founded to combat the over-bearing military might of Ala Mhigo. That would explain why those four take prominence in the design, both in detail of the city-states on the map as well as the larger flags. The first version of this map was drafted in 1506 Sixth Astral Era, so perhaps that timing lines up.

The blue/white one is familiar but I can't quite place it yet...

Based on the grouping of the Eorzean Alliance members, I think it's also safe to assume the others are grouped according to some relation. What can we make of those groupings?

Deities? Battle/crafting/gathering guilds? Beastmen? Character Races?

No idea, but it is interesting

I originally attributed those symbols to actual places because of these symbols in the map:

http://puu.sh/3z3l1/fb0261d2ae.png
http://puu.sh/3z3lt/88fc83e6f5.png
http://puu.sh/3z3mU/a59f93d5b9.png

Unfortunately, the resolution is far too low to see if there's any resemblance to the ones I posted.

If you look at the ships sailing into Limsa Lominsa, they bear the blue and white flag. Why is it so familiar to me...

We also see a small red rectangle off the western coast of Thanalan and to the south of Sharlayan, and a small yellow/orange one off the coast of Mazlaya (off the west coast of Thanalan), which could be two of the flags in this smaller box.

I believe the red flag with the white mark in the center may be Sharlayan, as we see the red rectangle next to where text-descriptions in game place the city and a ship sailing away from this location bears the same flag on its mast...

Looks like I'm getting to work!

[Starts a new wiki page and puts on his translating hat.]

That fourth flag is probably Ishgard. Note that it has spears on wither side. Ishgard is famous for it's dragoons right? I'm also thinking those smaller icons could be the class/job symbols.

As Moose says they're mostly likely associated to Hamlets, small cities/townships. Places Roddard Ironheart would have stayed as he journeyed across Eorzea mapping the details. The odd thing for me is the detailed drawings of Ishgard, Gridania, Ul'dah and Limsa Lominsa and the vague copy/paste city design for Sharlayan and Ala Mhigo. Maybe he wasn't allowed into these cities for details or maybe a sting of the Autumn War still hung around Roddard so he gave preference to the 4 City-States.

The flags are at least grouped together...4 -> 3 -> 2 -> 2 -> 3...but as Moose stated the Blue Flag with the White Stripe looks to be associated it with Limsa or at least the ships near Limsa. So they aren't in order of the City-State, so I don't know the exact order, but a few places I think could be considered:

Ul'dah:

• Golden Bazaar
• Silver Bazaar
• Camp Blackbrush --- This is where "outcast" and poor Ul'dahns live.

Limsa Lominsa:

• Wineport
• Aleport
• The Cieldalaes --- Seems to be mostly fishing villages, I just include it in this list cause of the region.

Gridania:

• Quarrymill
• Hyrtsmill

Ishgard:

• Owl's Nest
• Eagle's Nest
• Ferndale --- The town Nidhogg eventually destroyed.

Just a few examples I mostly wanted to toss in Fern(e)dale.

Quote:

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Originally Posted by NoloeTazier

[A]s Moose stated the Blue Flag with the White Stripe looks to be associated it with Limsa or at least the ships near Limsa

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Can anybody read the name under the ships? I'm chipping away at it now, but most of the "handwritten" Eorzean is quite difficult to get right. Even the six letters above EORZEA on the sigil are giving me grief (though, to be fair, they might not actually say anything considering the sixth letter is a backwards u).

All three ships are marked with the same five-letter word, which I'm pretty confident begins with a J.

EDIT:
The longer I stare at this, the higher I assess the likelihood that any text smaller than The Cieldalaes is deliberate gibberish.

Quote:

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Originally Posted by Anonymoose

EDIT:
The longer I stare at this, the higher I assess the likelihood that any text smaller than The Cieldalaes is deliberate gibberish.

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The same thing happens in the End of an Era video ;-; all the Eorzean on Louisoix's containment spell / redalamudding is simply ABCDEF...XYZ in Eorzean obviously. Though there are deity names and titles when their symbols appear (I only ever got through 'Thaliak, the Scholar' before giving up realizing there was little to be gleaned from translating)