Falcon's Nest - Mysterious & Rare Disciple Icon (Request from Fernehalwes @ Fanfest)

http://i.imgur.com/pDOFK88.jpg

I'd like to start off by explaining the genesis of this post and why I chose to post a thread on this topic, and then I'll explain for newcomers the history behind this image.

~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~

I was one of the lucky players to attend Fanfest in Las Vegas this past weekend and had a really awesome time! One of my most cherished memories was being able to shake hands with and briefly have a conversation with Michael Christopher Koji Fox (aka Fernehalwes), who has been a longtime favorite of mine on the dev team going all the way back to 1.0.

Being able to meet him in person for the first time cannot be described in words, because it would just be reduced to squeals, shrieks, and other embarrassing forms of words that are best left to being heard, not read. However! If you are reading this Koji Fox, then I would like to thank you once again for taking a brief moment to have some fun lore talk on the show floor and that you were kind enough to have a look at the image cap that I linked above! http://forum.square-enix.com/ffxiv/i...lies/smile.png

Now, unfortunately I wish I could sit here all day and explain how amazing Koji Fox (Fernehalwes) is and how powerful his contributions have been, but for our reader's sake, I'll move on to the history of this image from a "player's" standpoint.

~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~

http://i.imgur.com/KEE8WrD.jpg

~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~

Back in late 2010, when Final Fantasy XIV 1.0 first launched, me and a friend went exploring Coerthas. Back when there was more than just the now snowy Central Highlands, there were the Central Lowlands, the Eastern Highlands and Lowlands, if memory serves right, and the Western Highlands.

~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~

http://i.imgur.com/qSHO66U.jpg

~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~

There were also 2 hamlets. Owl's Nest, which most are familiar with who played 1.0 throughout, and then there was Falcon's Nest, whom almost the majority did not really know about. Both 1.0 and 2.0 players alike.

~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~

http://i.imgur.com/D4Sdl5f.jpg

~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~

Among the many, many, many other secretly hidden dungeons in the zone, and other sparse landmarks that could be found, there was something special about Falcon's Nest. In the back of the hamlet, which was nestled within a mountainous alcove, had this one house. Each house located sported a sign if front of their door to signify that they were a leatherworker's shop, or a weaver's shop, and so on. However, this one house had a sign that NO ONE had EVER seen or heard of before.

~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~

http://i.imgur.com/Im3d4ES.jpg

~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~

Puzzled by our recent discovery, we checked online to find answers and not a single soul mentioned any word about it at the time, nor had any screenshots been promotional or presented to any outlet. We began wondering what it could be and what was it's purpose here of all places?

~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~

http://i.imgur.com/iA30hst.jpg

~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~

Being an Eorzean explorian, I can assure my readers that this icon was found absolutely NOWHERE else in the entire history of FF XIV. That includes both 1.0 AND 2.0.

It was never released in any of the art books, nor online by any of the developers. So, in 2010, with the way the game shaped out to be, this supposed discipline never came to fruition and was lost in the Calamity when Falcon's Nest became blocked off due to Snowcloak forming where the entrance to the Gargoyle Bridge once was found.

~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~

http://i.imgur.com/OgKlMuv.jpg

~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~

(Here are a few back-shots of the same house with the mysterious sign on it)

The pen in the back made us think of Shepherd, which was a leaked class that was considered for 1.0 back then as a DoL of sorts dealing with animals. OR, my personal fan favorite, Beastmaster, due to the antler/horn-like appearance of the discipline's icon. Who knows?

~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~

http://i.imgur.com/ZbdkspH.jpg

~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~

Jump to the year 2014, 4 or so years later. Give or take a Calamity or two?

So, I printed out a copy of the image and brought it with me to Fanfest to finally get my answer after 4 long years. Unfortunately, my time was extremely limited and a rampant line of fans seeking autographs from the amazing Fernehalwes was starting to build up to primal-like proportions and I had to wrap things up swiftly!

I could not get an answer to this question there, and I may have reached a topic that could get him in trouble due to the secrecy of the subject, but I think I may have awoken a memory that laid dormant for several years or so. So, with much interest, and for the sake of a tight schedule, he instructed me to post this on the official lore forums to get back with some words of wisdom! He seemed very much reminded of something when he saw the image above, as if it was something he had not seen for a long, long time, and that moment I was ecstatic to say the least that he remembered working on it! Thank you, Ferne!

I now reserve this space for Fernehalwes to swoop in from the void and give some further insight for curious lorians (is that even a word?) to hopefully quench their "loregasms" (now THAT is a word I would vote for!). Most likely when he gets some free-time after the London Fanfest. We'll see!

Anyway, thank you very much Michael Christopher Koji Fox for taking a moment of your insanely busy schedule to say hello to me and share some really awesome words or lore wisdom! The panels were a real treat to watch there in person! I definitely look forward to the next Fanfest in the US!

~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~

As an added bonus, here's an old drawing from a while back that I briefly threw together for them as a means to say thank you! (That drawing is so outdated that Camate was still the snurble at the time!) Enjoy!

~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~

http://i.imgur.com/nY74KLH.jpg

http://i.imgur.com/yz5t1rU.png

~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~

If you have any questions, or would like to have some fun and talk about Coerthas and the lore, (or even the images above?!) don't be afraid to ask! http://forum.square-enix.com/ffxiv/i...lies/smile.png

~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~

Falcon's Nest and a VERY BOW LIKE symbol, u sure u didn't enter the building or meet any NPCs that would best described as TOP SECRET REAL RANGED DPS CLASS in the future?

Quote:

---

Originally Posted by Empressia

Falcon's Nest and a VERY BOW LIKE symbol, u sure u didn't enter the building or meet any NPCs that would best described as TOP SECRET REAL RANGED DPS CLASS in the future?

---

Unfortunately, I could not enter the buildings back then. The idea of it being some sort of bow is interesting, even though I'm inclined to lean otherwise to something else. It's a worthy observation!

http://s14.postimg.org/wu8v5onox/thumbs_up.png
Yes, want to hear more about this plz.

My curiosity is awakened... let's hope for an answer! To me, they look kind of like stag horns or antlers. Maybe some hunter guild to gather leather? ( I didn't play 1.0.)

The guild was supposed to be the shepards' guild. Something from the Tanaka era. Here is a list of classes that were supposed to be in the game before it tanked.
http://i28.photobucket.com/albums/c2...olos/ffxiv.png

They could possibly repurpose it as something else for 3.0, I hope that area of Coerthas makes a return too! Awesome seeing pics of what it used to look like.

Quote:

---

Originally Posted by Evane

The guild was supposed to be the shepards' guild. Something from the Tanaka era. Here is a list of classes that were supposed to be in the game before it tanked.
http://i28.photobucket.com/albums/c2...olos/ffxiv.png

---

There are also Mystic, Flayer, Samurai, Fencer and Enfocer classes. Maybe the expansion will see the return of some of them (ARR did bring back Arcanist)

Quote:

---

Originally Posted by Evane

The guild was supposed to be the shepards' guild. Something from the Tanaka era. Here is a list of classes that were supposed to be in the game before it tanked.
http://i28.photobucket.com/albums/c2...olos/ffxiv.png

---

Yep! This is the same chart that we referred to back then when we were considering what class it might have been. We always thought it was Shepherd or a possible Beastmaster considering the empty animal pen out back with feed in the trough.

Start the Fernehalwes summoning ritual! Where is my sacrificial Lalafell?

ARR more or less re-purposed Arcanist, though. The original Arcanist weapon was much cooler looking - but we already have 2 mages with staves. The 1.0 Arcanist weapon looked a lot more similar to current Allagan staves/canes.

Quote:

---

Originally Posted by Galuizu

Start the Fernehalwes summoning ritual! Where is my sacrificial Lalafell?

---

1 sec Ill go get one!

Also nice post dude!

Quote:

---

Originally Posted by Shai

ARR more or less re-purposed Arcanist, though. The original Arcanist weapon was much cooler looking - but we already have 2 mages with staves. The 1.0 Arcanist weapon looked a lot more similar to current Allagan staves/canes.

---

And also, if i remember well, the class was supposed to work setting traps and objects on the ground, creating AOEs that caused different effects to both enemies and allies. 3 years after, they reused that idea on the Geomancer in FFXI.

About the main topic, i also assumed that was the icon for the supposed Shepherd class (I remeber being very surprised about it when I discovered it in my first visit to Falcon's Nest, and then I remebered that class list that leaked in the the Alpha, and assumed it was Shepherd). I woul love if in the future they embrace again the concept, because i think it would be lovely to have a DOL class caring about the awesome fauna in Eorzea.

Quote:

---

Originally Posted by Evane

Here is a list of classes that were supposed to be in the game before it tanked.
http://i28.photobucket.com/albums/c2...olos/ffxiv.png

---

Seeing that list reminds me of my earliest impressions of FFXIV 1.0 being a more open-ended, sandbox type of game than what we have today in FFXIV: ARR.

At the time, I felt that Eorzea was a "pristine" frontier inviting hardy pioneers to brave its dangers and tap its resources.

FFXIV 1.0 seemed to have "exploration" as a key theme, in that players were encouraged to try a variety of ways to build a "life" of their own in a persistent game world. Disciples of War or Magic would cut the path into the wilderness, allowing Disciples of the Land to harvest materials from the land, which would then be used by Disciples of the Hand to create items for the community.

(In other words, kind of how WildStar turned out.)

The precursor of the Scions, the Path of the Twelve, had the same theme of "exploration", though in this case, it was more about personal, spiritual exploration, as each Pathwalker strove to find out where the Echo would lead him or her. I remember that I used to think of the Path as the Eorzean equivalent of Freemasons. :D

FFXIV: ARR no longer has that open-world feel, because its central plot is so much more clearly defined than FFXIV 1.0's. It's one of the few things I do miss about the original iteration of the game.

This is the type of thing that makes me miss 1.0 so much.

Genuinely, where else in the current world is there any mystery?
It feels like a safe and sound lobby for instanced content with little but FATEs populating it, sans the occasional mob on the way to a gear piñata.

Everything is kept out of the world until just before it's needed, at which point it's painfully obvious what it will be for.
I'm very much concerned as to how they intend to reclaim some mystery, but I suppose 3.0 is a chance to start again.

Not only mystery but....danger.

The only time I feel I am in danger is...well, I don't. You can just run away from a mob if you need to making it of no consequence to you if you happen to aggro it.

Not everything needs to be melt your face off if it sniffs you out, but it would be nice to have some REAL threat to deal with when out in the open world. I mean WTF is a snurble gonna do to you?

Hopefully in the expansion we see a bit more of this. Maybe even some more dragon lore type mobs. Also to comment on what was shown in OP. It to me also looks like antlers. So maybe it is a true hunting/hunters guild ala Jaegermeister. Maybe the class is Herder and the job is Beast Master.

Quote:

---

Originally Posted by Tsuwu

This is the type of thing that makes me miss 1.0 so much.

Genuinely, where else in the current world is there any mystery?
It feels like a safe and sound lobby for instanced content with little but FATEs populating it, sans the occasional mob on the way to a gear piñata.

Everything is kept out of the world until just before it's needed, at which point it's painfully obvious what it will be for.
I'm very much concerned as to how they intend to reclaim some mystery, but I suppose 3.0 is a chance to start again.

---

Every important battles were instanced in 1.0. From dungeons to Primals, along with MSQ (United We Stand or Rivenroad, for instance) and Skirmishes.
1.0 had a bunch of high level monsters you couldn't kill alone, guarding nothing but some piece of landscape. Don't get me wrong, I loved those landscapes (Twinlakes is still my favourite place), but it was a pain to reach them just to have a few nice screenshots.

Quote:

---

Originally Posted by Synestr

I mean WTF is a snurble gonna do to you?

---

Snurbles use conjury. Conjury has access to 3 elements. Quake, Tornado and Flood are Ancient spells linked to these elements. Really want to piss off a Snurble-king?! ;(

Quote:

---

Originally Posted by Leonesaurus

Unfortunately, I could not enter the buildings back then. The idea of it being some sort of bow is interesting, even though I'm inclined to lean otherwise to something else. It's a worthy observation!

---

Come to think of it, i haven't seen any Ishgardian soldiers npc / enemies using a bow ingame? The name Falcon's Nest is also remisincing to archery or falconeer (Beastmaster offshoot?). Or it could also depicts horns of something that became a symbol for a secret 5th noble house?

I wonder why they didn't try reactivating the class with Heavesward.

I know this thread has been necro'ed, but is now a 2 year old mystery as to what could have been more cool lore xD

I think the life of this one needs a jump start, and perhaps a response from Fernehalwas after so many years as well. xD

The first post mentioned Falcon's Nest, which we all know is the area just outside Ishgard, but they also mentioned Owl's Nest, which is now on the Shatter Frontlines map.

Quote:

---

Originally Posted by Empressia

Come to think of it, i haven't seen any Ishgardian soldiers npc / enemies using a bow ingame? The name Falcon's Nest is also remisincing to archery or falconeer (Beastmaster offshoot?). Or it could also depicts horns of something that became a symbol for a secret 5th noble house?

---

Aymeric uses a bow in the MSQ and it is also used in his tales of the Dragon Song War story. It looks like he is quite proficient with it.
I am pretty sure there are Ishgardian NPCs using a bow but I don't know any others from the top of my hat.

Aymeric calls off some bowmen when Middy lands in Ishgard at the end of 3.0. I believe they also show up during first Steps of Faith and also appear in a few FATEs.

It's true that Ishgardian army NPCs in actual gameplay tend to be either Lancers or Conjurers, though.

I really want an answer to this.