Final Fantasy XIV Lore Questions Thread

Hello, everybody.

So, I'm starting this thread as a means of asking questions about certain nuances of the FFXIV lore in the hopes of finding answers for them. I'll start with this simple question:

What is an Imperial Legatus, how many of them are there, and who are they?

I can fill in some of the blanks on the answer for this question: I know there are at least two confirmed Legatuses (by screenshot and visual player contact) - the one from Mor Dhona in Futures Perfect and the one that appeared to Japanese players in Thanalan. The key point I need to know about them is: What are their names, and what Legions do they command, what are their known backstories?

If anyone can answer this, I'd appreciate it a lot.

Also, if anyone has a lore question, post it up here so others can answer them too!

I know there isn't a answer to this officialy but I really wonder about a few things.

1. Whats the point of the unstable (Purple) aetheral nodes?
2. What is the purpose of the large crystal in humblehearth?
3. Is there any important to the thaumaturg shrines in Ul'dah?
4. Will we ever be able to enter the slyph city in the black shroud or just gaze upon it from a distance?
5. Will Sil'dah be a Raid or a open zone?
6. Will airships be safe travel with the garleans controling the skies?
7. Dispite reports of Coerthas NPC's there are 0 dragons in the area, is there a reason for this aside from the fighting with Ishguard?
8. Why did Ishguard close it's gates, wouldn't they want help fighting the Dragons?
9. Do the guilds in the hamlets across Eorzea serve any purpose besides being wall-deco?

Oh god I could go on forever.

A Legatus is the commander of a legion in the roman army (biggest division of the army : 3000~6000 soldiers)

There are at least 3 legatus shown/mentioned in the game : the one in Future perfect, Gaius van Baelsar (XIVth legion) and Nael van Darnus (VIIth legion)

1. Whats the point of the unstable (Purple) aetheral nodes?

   They are, functionally, meant to serve as teleports from the main Aetherial Gates, but lorewise, I'm not sure. Probably aetheric energy bleeding out from their parent gates.

2. What is the purpose of the large crystal in humblehearth?

   With Gridania's proximity to Coerthas and Ala Mhigo, it is probably related to the Woodsin/Forest, the Beast tribes/Primals or the Empire.

3. Is there any important to the thaumaturg shrines in Ul'dah?
4. Will we ever be able to enter the slyph city in the black shroud or just gaze upon it from a distance?

   We have been able to enter it in cutscenes associated with the Sylphs in the Main scenario quests. We probably will be able to visit them in the future.

5. Will Sil'dah be a Raid or a open zone?

   City's buried, and most likely derelict with a lot of debris so I doubt it would be accessible.

6. Will airships be safe travel with the garleans controling the skies?

   Maybe, maybe not. I wonder if Yoshi-P has a plan for random Imperial encounters on airship rides.

7. Dispite reports of Coerthas NPC's there are 0 dragons in the area, is there a reason for this aside from the fighting with Ishguard?

   I think Scalekin are a type of mobs that Ishgard "hunts", lorewise. Drakes, for example.

8. Why did Ishguard close it's gates, wouldn't they want help fighting the Dragons?

   This will probably be covered in a fanfic I'm writing that revolves around Feral Ren and Ishgard. To answer your question, the Archbishop issued the order to have the gates closed - probably not long after the Tragedy at Silvertear Falls.

9. Do the guilds in the hamlets across Eorzea serve any purpose besides being wall-deco?

   Since the zones are due for a rebuild in the near future, we won't know if those will be there after the environments are updated.

Most of these questions seem to pertain to player-accessible content. This thread is meant to help clarify any questions about the world of Eorzea players may have - questions like, what is the cultural etiquette of the average person in Ul'dah?

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Originally Posted by Genz

A Legatus is the commander of a legion in the roman army (biggest division of the army : 3000~6000 soldiers)

There are at least 3 legatus shown/mentioned in the game : the one in Future perfect, Gaius van Baelsar (XIVth legion) and Nael van Darnus (VIIth legion)

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Do we know the name of the one in Futures Perfect, though? I need that for my story I'm writing. XD

Due to almost no mention of the Legatus in anything so far, unfortunately I can't answer your question even though I do read all the dialogues even the miscellaneous ones.

EDIT: I stand corrected haha

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Originally Posted by Jynx

Will we ever be able to enter the slyph city in the black shroud or just gaze upon it from a distance?

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Spoiler:

If I recall the current Slyph city was attack/destroyed by the Garleans. This was the motivation for the slyphs to seek the aid of you and your adventuring fellow to collect one of the eggs from under the noses of the Imperials. And because they are cheeky bastards that enjoy making players do all their dirty work.

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Originally Posted by Jynx

Will airships be safe travel with the garleans controling the skies?

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No. With a capital N and a period. Have you seen their Juggernaut? From what I can see of our airships they are little wooden boats being levitated by some kind of balloon and propeller lol. I'm not even sure I trust riding in one let alone going anywhere near a Garlean Skyfighter (Thats not their real name, but thats what I call those weird winged-flute cannon machines they have).

Quote:

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Do we know the name of the one in Futures Perfect, though?

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Some fan sites say he's called Zulvan, but I have no idea of their source.

Quote:

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Originally Posted by Genz

Some fan sites say he's called Zulvan, but I have no idea of their source.

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We need to find out the source so we can confirm it. Without that information, this is dodgy at best.

Edit: Also, I need to confirm this - Ala Mhigo fell to the Empire 15 years prior to current events, correct?

I love threads where people make stuff up.

...Except no one's made anything up?

Nice one though, very sharp.

1. Yet unknown, there's still a lot to learn about aetherial energy and aetherite in general. It;s likely the aetherial energy has been drained.
2. Not yet sure. The Conjurer's guild probably knows, they have a rather large crystal too.
3. Yes, North-east of Drybone at (19, 43).
4. Yet unknown.
5. Still unknown.
6. For the most part, I believe so. Whilst Garleans have been pushing back into Eorzea the only mention of an Imperial Airship that I've found is by a Shepherd NPC in Owl's Nest.
7. The dragons are likely in Dravania, which will be connected through Coerthas. Dravania is north-west of Coerthas, and if you head north-west in Coerthas you see a large amount of drakes, out by Riversmeet and Twinpools.
8. Ishgard doesn't trust the other city states. They are ruled by an Archbishop, and since the war with the dragons only people called by him or Halone, their deity, may enter.
9. They'll become open soon enough.

I have so many lore questions that can't even be answered by other players because I know like me they've probably searched for an answer that just isn't there yet.
I really can't wait for other lands and more lore, when they're ready for ishgard to be open we'll prob get more ishgardian lore that we can't currently find out. Then once we can step foot within Ishgards walls maybe we'll find out about other lands like Dravania and Xelphatol and such more ^^ I really can't wait.


Note to SE, I would love for you to come out with some sort of lorebook, other games have codex's within the game, but maybe a lore book would be better, I'd buy it.

On dragons - my favourite NPC story so far is about that. SPOILER ALC "The Boy and the Dragon Gay"
http://ffxiv.zam.com/en/quest.html?ffxivquest=110421

Just putting that out there. Seems to indicate the archbishop of Isgard is not so nice. This opinion was confirmed by npc dialogue in the lancer's guild and in the owl's nest iirc