Hydaelyn at large (is there a compilation of info yet?)

Scholars of Eorzea, gather around for your time as come to compile every mountain top and valley deep Hydaelin has to offer. Aaaaand I've got nothing. My "like" will have to suffice for now. ;0

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Originally Posted by Kyan

Sharlayan
Far-northern island nation (is it beyond Ilsabard?) (http://eu.finalfantasyxiv.com/pr/wor...hreats/content)

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Sharlayan is actually not a northern nation but actually is (or was) one of Eorzea's six city states - on this Eorzea map released back before the launch of the original version, it was clearly marked as in the Dravanian region north-west of Coerthas and Ishgard, but definitely still on Aldenard (on that map it's the walled city in the north-western corner of Aldenard, directly under the image of a flying dragon and next to the word 'Dravania' written in Eorzean script).

As you noted though there was dialogue in the original game that contradicted this map though by stating it was on an island, leading some to suggest that maybe it was both - part of Aldenard, but maybe situated in a body of water that surrounded it, much like a castle.

There was also at least one NPC in 1.0 who also referred to Sharalyan in the past tense, seeming to suggest the Empire had already conquered and destroyed it, but no other evidence has come to light to clarify this point. In any event, from all information available, Sharalyan is definitely a part of Eorzea.

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Originally Posted by Enkidoh

Sharlayan is actually not a northern nation but actually is (or was) one of Eorzea's six city states

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It has been confirmed to be both. The Lore Train: Is Sharlayan an Island, or What?

Meracydian wyverns exist in Binding Coil so I guess Meracydia has wyverns.

Does anyone know if anything in-game mentions whether or not the lands outside of Eorzea were affected by the Calamity? It would kind of suck to have a massive change in your environment over night (like Eorzea did) just because some jerk half way across the world brought a dragon-moon down.

A lot of warm-water ocean fish have been noticed around Southern Eorzea and off the La Noscean Coast post-Calamity, as stated in many of their item descriptions. Perhaps there has been some sort of climate change in the south?

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Originally Posted by Kyan

Score seems to be a measurement of quantity - I believe it means “tens of”. Two score means 20 - two score hundred (20,000, twenty-thousand, as mentioned on Garpike’s description).

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In English, one score is 20. Two score hundred would be 4,000. I find it rather odd that they would re-use "score" as a measurement of quantity and change the definition. Could you clarify where you find something suggesting that they used a different value?

I love this thread.

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Originally Posted by Gamemako

In English, one score is 20. Two score hundred would be 4,000. I find it rather odd that they would re-use "score" as a measurement of quantity and change the definition. Could you clarify where you find something suggesting that they used a different value?

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Oh, thank you for that clarification! I was trying to imply my uncertainty in the sentence, as I had never heard the term before, and in the entries it is used, the numbers seemed to make sense. I didn't even think to Google it. ������

That being said, I can tell you the average life expectancy of a Naturalist in Eorzea with my recent catch of a Heliobatis - naturalists on average live 4 score summers, so 80 years. "Some naturalists claim this particular species of wave kin can see up to a thousand summers... though, as the average life expectancy of a naturalist is but four score summers, these claims hold little weight."

Never heard the term "score" before? Man I hope you are not from America, if you are your school system is horrid or you really really never paid attn to history lol

"Four SCORE and seven years ago our fathers brought forth, upon this continent, a new nation, conceived in Liberty, and dedicated to the proposition that all men are created equal"

Haha, I'm Australian so forgive my ignorance!

I figured "score" was along the lines of what we do - we just make them up. :)

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Originally Posted by Kyan

Haha, I'm Australian so forgive my ignorance!

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Ha, I estimated as much. Just be proud that you know the wonders of James Cook while poor American children may never hear the name. :p

So far I have included information sourced from the gathering and fishing logs, and the official website. When I'm home after work, my next source shall be botany/fishing/mining levequests which have great tidbits of information on some locations :)

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Originally Posted by Kyan

Haha, I'm Australian so forgive my ignorance!

I figured "score" was along the lines of what we do - we just make them up. :)

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Whew! lol
I was thinking, man if he's American and he doesn't know the word score....

Added some new information to the original post - and I have a lot of extra information which seems to break my first post. Maybe too many characters/words? I do not want to start a new thread and be overbearing in the Lore forums for stuff which I find interesting, hehe.

I may have to start another thread for the Creatures of Hydaelyn, as I find that fascinating too.
Creatures of Hydaelyn:

• In one season, an Ochu can produce over one hundred seeds, which if they germinate, each turn into a Microchu, which readily suck nutrients from the soil starving other plants (Leve: Evil Seeds).
• Roselet saplings, sprouting usually on trees, will send taproots into the tree's core and divert nutrients to its own body, causing withering and damage to the host (Leve: The Heart of the Hedge).
• Gobbues are said to eat up to three times its own weight each day; larger gobbues weigh upwards of three hundred stone (Leve: Appetite for Abduction).
• Chocobos naturally dig, and are trained to unearth mushrooms, tubers and hidden treasures - however this talent for instinctive digging also sees chocobos removing fence posts and other partially-burried items (Leve: Digging Deep).
• Piestes enjoy eating Lalafells, arguably because of a Lalafells' "squat, rotund build" which "makes the easier to swallow whole" (Leve: What Piestes Crave).

Questions I have:

• Find the source for chocobos - are they native to Coerthas?
• Miqo'te Sunseeker tribes have animal totems. It is said that they followed animals across the frozen sea (Website) - would these totem animals not found in Eorzea, such as bears and hipparions (an extinct relative of the horse in the real world), be found in this homeland? Would the ones found in Eorzea, like marmots and gigantoads, also be present there?:confused:

Hydaelyn really interests me, but the more I learn, the more my theory that Hydaelyn is actually a giant Coblyn Primal who is readying war against the dark Doblyn Primal is being disproven... :(

Sylphs love milkroot, a psychedelic drug- http://xivdb.com/?fate/615/Got-Milkroot

I think all Qiqirn are suckers for chicken eggs. At least Kyokyoroon in Limsa is - http://ffxiv.gamerescape.com/wiki/Never_Forget

I think Qiqirn love eggs period, regardless of where those eggs come from (there's a crab NM FATE in Upper La Noscea that the quest info states was created by qiqirn imprisoning a crab in the shallows to harvest it's eggs for food, not realizing the crab in question was actually male :p). Not to mention another FATE in Eastern La Noscea has a qiqirn enlisting adventurers to collect penguin eggs for him to eat (although they're not actually penguins, but basilisks).

So yeah, I think qiqirn just love eggs of all kinds, no matter what animal they come from. ;)

Qiqirn do love eggs - including dodo eggs, as per the Tiny Tortoise fishing log. There is also a fate where a Qiqirn says that he likes all eggs, including "round eggs and square eggs," although he has never seen a square egg.

I've been out of this forum for far too long...

You've described O'Ghomoro as an inactive Volcano. She is in fact active. Not only is smoke rising from her, but the Navel has lava flowing through it. Furthermore, this behaviour suggests O'Ghomoro is what we call a "Shield Volcano", producing primarily calmer, basaltic flows. An Earth comparison would be Muana Loa, of the Hawaiian Islands.

Thank you for pointing that out - I'll amend that.

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Originally Posted by Kyan

Questions I have:
Find the source for chocobos - are they native to Coerthas?

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unicorns are.

proof
1:01
http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=xPis_Jtl1MQ

I'm not sure if chocobos are native to Coerthas, but it's mentioned repeatedly (both in 1.0 and in ARR), that Ishgard has a reputation for being the elite when it comes to chocobo breeding and raising. Back when 1.0 was first released chocobos were not available to players and the in-game 'reason' given as to why npc handlers wouldn't let players ride them is because there was a disease affecting chocobos at the time called 'chocobo blight', and hence the Ishgardian stables had quarantined their birds to stop it rendering the species extinct.

When chocobos were added in the 1.19 patch though the npcs mentioned that the quarantine seemed to have worked and the blight had diminished, thus the Ishgardian stables released their birds to the handlers and adventurers were finally allowed to ride them.

Again this doesn't prove that chocobos are native to Coerthas, but at the very least the Ishgardians over time developed a tradition of chocobo breeding, which you would think would go 'hand in hand.'

I recall a NPC saying that Chocobos spread outside of Coerthas because the unnatural snow that started up there after Dalamud fell drove the flocks out of their native habitat. I don't recall who it was that says this, however. That would hint, though, that wild Chocobos were native there as well as specially-bred ones.

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Originally Posted by Nialle

I recall a NPC saying that Chocobos spread outside of Coerthas because the unnatural snow that started up there after Dalamud fell drove the flocks out of their native habitat. I don't recall who it was that says this, however. That would hint, though, that wild Chocobos were native there as well as specially-bred ones.

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I don't remember the NPC's name, but it's the "leader" of the Chocobo ranch at Bentbranch who says this. She definitely says that Chocobos used to live in Coerthas but fled to the Black Shroud after the Calamity.

Yes, I recall talking to the NPC at one of the chocobo stables in the Black Shroud and this being mentioned - I just wanted to make sure it wasn't my imagination!

It is easy with items and logs, it's written in black and white, but when I'm trusting my memory, I play a dangerous game!

Not sure if this counts but this is some info related to the Void:

"Mormo is truly fascinating, even among the oddities of the voidsent. She is far too powerful to make use of the tiny holes that open between our realities, thus must send across only her spirit to possess a corpse or some other suitable host." -THM Story

Apparently exceptionally powerful Voidsent cannot enter Hydaelyn and must use proxies by possessing them with their spirits.

Also, related to Sil'dah and Mormo:

"The histories unearthed in the ruins of Sil'dih depict the suffering wrought by a singularly powerful voidsent─the cunning and terrible seductress known as Mormo.

With genius born of desperation, the mages of the now-fallen city fashioned an urn that would drain and imprison the aetheric vitality of any creature that laid a hand─or claw─upon it. Mormo, believing she was receiving a gift of appeasement from the beleaguered citizens, found her very essence drawn forth and trapped within the ensorcelled pot.

Over the course of several centuries, the captive aetheric energy was intended to weaken and dissipate, allowing any surviving descendants to safely shatter the urn and thus destroy Mormo's enervated spirit.

The pot's lid was never to be opened again─to do so would release the ravenous voidsent, freeing her soul to enslave the nearest mortal vessel. As possession of this nature is irreversible, the only mercy afforded such a host should be a swift and decisive demise.”

Hm hm hm... This explains Mormo's fixation on thaumaturgicide. Cocobusi's body provided little arcane sustenance for the weakened voidsent, forcing her to prey upon richer sources of aether to restore her hideous power."

-THM Story

Mormo sounds like an Ascian, although one with more selfish life goals than destroying Eorzea. =P

I wonder if that means there might be ways to trap Ascians in special prisons in a similar manner as was done to her?

The Void is certainly an interesting place, but perhaps not a place I'd like to visit!

Gysahl Greens are indigenous to the Near East, and as we know, a favourite of chocobos. We see them growing in the farm plots in Coerthas, as well as in the Shroud around the chocobo stables. If this Near East is Thavnair, it would be interesting to see who their trading relationships are with here, in Eorzea.

With so many species of flora (and, indeed, some fauna) being imported into Eorzea from other continents, I am curious to know what our exports are. With the Far East, you could assume our fishing guild would be making a killing with sea pickles and Ash tuna!

Gee, what I wouldn't give to be able to sneak onto one of those trade ships in Limsa Lominsa and sneak off to see the wider world... Or at least one of their nautical maps!

Where would you like to visit?

When creating a new character, and starting in Ul'dah, there is this line of text from the debt collector Lalafell as he accosts the Hyur in the Quicksand before the player character and Momodi:

"In the East, it is said that even a merciful god might be driven to vengeance if thrice blasphemed."

I am wondering if this sentence subtly implies if the East (Near East? Far East? Othard?) have a different set of gods or faith.

[Fauna]
Goobbues have an additional function to spread vegetation across the lands. On death, plants germinate from the corpse and spread in the nearby area. - (Can't remember quest) See corpse east of Drybone.
A species of grapes used to make prized wine was thought to be extinct after the catastrophy but was found on the back of a Goobbue in Raincatcher. (Quest from Wineport, can't remember name)

Unicorns are natives of Coerthas and are rarely seen. (Unicorn mount quest, WHM guild)

Horses exist but are not native to Eorzea. (Mentioned by one of the moderators)

[Flora]
If you look around the landscape, you'll notice that the flora scattered around are actually pretty detailed and unique, so much so it will be possible to document all of them.

Only catch is that most of the flora you see will be unnamed.

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From 1.0, if I remember correctly, Ascian natural form is that of a wispy Grim Reaper like creature. All beastmen fear them.

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Originally Posted by Kyan

I am wondering if this sentence subtly implies if the East (Near East? Far East? Othard?) have a different set of gods or faith.

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When Garlemald invaded Othard, they came up against a primal opposition. It is implied that the primals of Othard were different to the primals of Aldenard. And given how primals behave, this might be related to the "gods" in question.

Let's also recall that the Ascians were attempting to goad some Ala Mhigan youths into summoning Rhalgr, using the same techniques as a primal. Can you see where I'm going with this?

That was an interesting revelation though - but then a little logic needs to be applied. Given the natural untrustworthy and darkly ominous nature of the Ascians, there is no real proof that what the Ala Mhigan kids would have ended up summoning really would have been Rhalgr anyway - it could have been anything for all we know, a Primal, or some other kind of aetheric entity masquerading as Rhalgr's form (and it's probably something the player will never know, probably a good thing).

After all, look at Good King Moggle Mog the XIIth, it's been stated he is not a Primal despite being summoned in the same way and having the exact same level of control and corruption over those who summoned him. It's highly likely the ultimately thwarted plans of the misguided Ala Mhigan kids to summon Rhalgr could have ended up with similar (and potentially dangerous) results.

How do you guys think Hydaelyn and the 12 are connected? The 12 are supposed to be gods so they are definitely alive somewhere in some form. Do the people of Eorzea have the ability to summon the 12 like the primals are summoned? I'm hoping at some point we bring them back. Maybe to seal Bahamut away after we awaken him again in the coils. So much potential for lore, I hate waiting on it.

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Originally Posted by Royal

How do you guys think Hydaelyn and the 12 are connected?

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I'm throwing my loyalties in with my own theory: The Twelve are just mythological figures based on stories of great Allag figures, and when we summoned "their" strength, we just shaped the unstable, imbalanced aether to our prayers. This would also explain what primals are. Who knows, though. Open door!

(Yes, I have been lurking this kickass thread for a while, I've just yet to have much to add, lol.)

That's the only part of the lore that annoys me. Yes you can find little things embedded in quests and thrown out here and there but the big stuff is also unknown. Oh well, I hope they bring in a big library like some of the past games. We'll see.

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Originally Posted by Catapult

When Garlemald invaded Othard, they came up against a primal opposition. It is implied that the primals of Othard were different to the primals of Aldenard. And given how primals behave, this might be related to the "gods" in question.

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The only thing implied from Gaius' speech was that Garuda wasn't one of the Primals smacked by Ultima back then, if it was actually used.

I'm sticking with the theory there are only as many Primals as there are Elements - six - at any given time. Otherwise, how and why gather the six different crystals during our questing around Eorzea? However, one nice plot twist would be fact that someone (or something) can challenge a Primal (or God) for its status. This opens room for Odin's current status.

The gods of the East could indeed simply be primals - and most likely if the East is equal to Othard. But the fact that they said "East" rather than Othard, makes me think it is the Far East. Interestingly, there are a lot of Lalafell connected to the Far East, as an aside - a lot of fish are gifted to Eorzea from Lalafell royalty from the Far East.

To continue with primals... Oh gosh, now I have to scour my resources. This is second hand knowledge, as I have not got every class to 50. To the south, there were also primals, correct? Primals which prevented the Allag from initially conquering that southern continent? Something to do with Summoner, etc?

So, is the "South" alluded to be Meracydia?

And this all brings us back to the fact that we still don't fully understand what the Primals actually are, let alone the elder primals and other aetherial beings out there.

Ah, the joys of a mystery. ^_^

Is it at all possible that there may be two primals per element the same way there are two gods per element? There's still a lot of mystery about the rest of Hydaelyn. Perhaps the beast tribes around the world used to know of both, but favored one so much for so long that the other was forgotten over the eras. This leaves an option of at least hearing about other primals from far away lands in future patches and maybe, just maybe, meeting them.

If, however, there are absolutely only six primals in all of Hydaelyn, then perhaps they can change how they look to best impress whatever group summoned them. This means that the Ala Mhigan youths who went to summon Rhalgr with some ritual they knew nothing about may, in fact, have been summoning Ifrit who would then have taken on a more humanoid shape because that's what they expected. Or he may have fallen on them as he does with the Amalj'aa. We'll never know.