Who are the Allagan exactly ?

So, unless I just missed some quest(s) telling about them, the only thing I know is they were some sort of really advanced civilization that went exctint kind of like Atlantis.
Do we have more information about them ?

I'm not certain if there are any quests in 2.0 that spell it out. The Allagan Empire was a civilization in the 3rd Astral Era which created Dalamud to seal Bahamut and who also helped seal Odin after he did some horrible things in The Shroud. Whereas in the current era, The Garleans are masters of Magitek and Machina while Eorzea has cornered the market on Magic, ancient Allag had both in equal measure. The Allagan Empire was omnipresent in Hydalen to about the same extent as the Garlean Empire is in the present day. The Allagans created the Royal Allagan Starway and Royal Allagan Sunway which are travel routes through present-day Thanalan and are marked on your map. The Umbral Era that came after their Empire declined seems to have been a sort of Dark Age, and I say this because no civilization since that period had ever reached the level of advancement that the ancient Allagans did. (spoilers from here) It is discovered during the Main Story that a certain Garlean believes that the Pure-Blooded Garleans are descendents of the Allagans. This is supported by the fact that we also discover that all Pure-Blooded Garleans have a Third Eye / Bindi, including Cid. Cid's was obscured by his goggles the whole time, we see it clearly in any cutscene portraying Nero without his helm, and furthermore we never saw the face of a Garlean other than Cid in v1. The Allagans were able to defeat and seal primals using their Magic, Magitek, and Machina but the Garleans have been unable to do so (without incurring severe losses) until they found and restored Ultima Weapon. The Praetorium instance suggests that Nero has taken what he learned from the restoration of Ultima Weapon and used it to guide the Garleans in making their own, original Magitek that are just as capable as Ultima Weapon in defeating/sealing Primals. Mechanical pieces which resemble the parts of Omega Weapon can be seen in the same instance.

Several FF series have had an ancient race of humans that were significantly more advanced than the current civilization but died out long before the events of that game for one reason or another. FFVII had The Ancients, FFVIII had The Centra Civilization, Final Fantasy IX had the civilization that built Olevert, Final Fantasy X had the Pre-Yevon Civilization that eventually self-destructed due to its reliance on Machina such as Vegnagun. Final Fantasy XI had The Zilart, who became so powerful that their leaders began to believe they could ascend to godhood. In FFXIV, The Allagans are the ancient, powerful race that died out under circumstances that are, as of yet, not fully understood. It is likely that the reason for their fate will eventually be revealed as a part of Storyline.

Thanks for the answer. :)

so they are the Zilaart of the ffxiv universe D:

pretty much on the mark, but was it the war of mages that started their decline? also there was that plague that started turning the mages into Tonberries, it was the mages who would advanced/maintained the empire not very good if the leadership of empire starts turning into lizard/fish like people all of sudden, I am sure most of people would think its because of magic use or machina use and start to leave the cities trying to stay safe or away from plague.

The War of the Magi was between Nym & Amdapor (at least) and happened something like the 5th Astral Era? Or Umbral? Can't recall now. Either way, it was way after the fall of the Allagans.


Who clearly devolved into the snails they cultivated.

So Nym and Amdapor Civilizations were contemporaries? I haven't encountered much in the game that elaborates on this. Just that the Keep exists because the Amdapor were in The Shroud, and quite against the will of the elementals. I know less about Nym. Just that they had the ability to create the islands in the sky that can be seen in the northern subregions of La Noscea.

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Originally Posted by Saikou

So Nym and Amdapor Civilizations were contemporaries? I haven't encountered much in the game that elaborates on this. Just that the Keep exists because the Amdapor were in The Shroud, and quite against the will of the elementals. I know less about Nym. Just that they had the ability to create the islands in the sky that can be seen in the northern subregions of La Noscea.

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Indeed. The Nymians and the people of Amdapor were denizens of the Fifth Astral Era, civilizations that emerged from the Fifth Umbral Era of Frost thanks to the discovery/emergence of modern magic. Nym was a smaller civilisation based in Vylbrand that paid homage to Oschon the Wanderer, but one that stood its ground in the wars of that era. As for Amdapor, we are less familiar with them and their history at this stage.

By contrast, the Allagan civilisation did not use things akin to modern magic, but instead channeled aetheric energy through different means, predominantly through the use of artifacts. Their civilisation flourished further than any since, possibly due to...<spoiler tags>

...their ability to contain the primals that would emerge in times of conflict. Through the possession of Ultima Weapon, they would have been able to enslave lesser primals to the point of being able to research a way to summon a sliver of their essence in the form of an egi. Dalamud was likely constructed using the same technology and used to contain Bahamut. However, the fact that Ultima Weapon contained an ascian relic, the heart of Sabik, may have in fact been their own undoing in a previous attempt to give rebirth to Zodiark.

Continuing off Catapult

Urth was also an Allagan who imprisoned Odin! The Allagans seemed to be all about trapping primals rather than defeating them. Considering defeating a primal accomplishes very little however, I can see why they'd want to strand them helplessly in the material world rather than return them to the aether