Coerthas Climate Change

Hi, so I am a Geographer in real life, and I love to get really invested in game lore.

So my simple question: Why did the climate of Coerthas change so significantly between 1.0 and 2.0? Did Bahamut's magic just magically lower the temperature or is there something else at work? I know Shiva was in the area eventually, but I haven't found many NPCs that discuss this stuff.

Anyone got any ideas?

It was not bahamuts magic but the overall destructive force of his attacks that changed the ecosystem there forever, similar to the battle of silver tear Lake that crystallized almost all of mor dhona

I'd say it's all the dust and ash that would get into the air that makes the temperature drop, think a bit of volcanic ash.
In addition to some changes to the shape of the land, it might catch more clouds blocking more sunlight, causing snowfall, which in turn means sunlight is reflected resulting in a positive feedback loop that keeps the climate cold.

Ah, yes the massive amounts of dust and ash would certainly make a lot of sense. Makes me wonder if this is a temporary thing though; will Coerthas ever be green again? I mean it was effectively like cold barren highlands before from what I gather, a bit like Scotland.

I think it bothers me more that we didn't have any type of transition zones, we just skip straight into snow. I think they made the Hinterlands the new coerthas 1.0 sadly.

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Originally Posted by Jackald

Ah, yes the massive amounts of dust and ash would certainly make a lot of sense. Makes me wonder if this is a temporary thing though; will Coerthas ever be green again?

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It's more than just dust and ash. That's real-world geography. But this is a fantasy world, where the flow of aether also has an effect on weather and climate.

Bahamut's rage unleashed and disrupted huge amounts of aether. This was further compounded by the Scions' aborted summoning of (a portion of) the Twelve. In the end, Eorzea ended up with the equivalent of a nuclear winter. Except, in its case, it was an aether winter for the southern nations in general, and for Coerthas in particular.

Other parts of the realm also suffered from climate change in the aftermath of Bahamut's rage. Eastern Thanalan, for example, now appears to be getting a lot more rain than local place names suggest (Camp Drybone, anyone?). Although, I've also read that in Eastern Thanalan's case, it's more a case of progressive desertification, because the region was apparently once as heavily forested as the neighbouring Twelveswood.

I don't recall if something similar was ever explained by an Eorzean NPC, but if you've played FFXII, you'd be familiar with the effects of aether (in FFXII's case, the "Mist") on weather. The in-game lore compendium for FFXII specificially explains how the Mist can cause localised weather/climate anomalies.

I imagine it's much the same for Eorzea.

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Originally Posted by TinyRedLeaf

I don't recall if something similar was ever explained by an Eorzean NPC, but if you've played FFXII, you'd be familiar with the effects of aether (in FFXII's case, the "Mist") on weather. The in-game lore compendium for FFXII specificially explains how the Mist can cause localised weather/climate anomalies.

I imagine it's much the same for Eorzea.

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Ah yes, and in XII there were also regions called "Jaeg" where the Mist/Aether was troublesome enough to prevent travel by air (among other things, mostly in tactics), I; imagin the Howling Eye, The Aery and Azys Lla to be similar given the need of specialized aircraft to access all three

I would put this down to Aether too. Apart from the disruption Bahamut breaking free and the pieces of Dalamud raining down on the land caused, even prior to that the proximity of Dalamud was pulling Aether out of the land. If something caused a shift to large concentrations of Ice Aether in Coerthas, it would lead to the temperature change. Its the same logic on why we have floating islands. If a particular type of Aether is particularly strong in an area it can have rather drastic effects of the surroundings.

You might want to check out this old thread for more on the topic of Coerthas' climate change.

My personal theory was that Dalamud itself was using some of its power to keep Coerthas warm for some Allagan reason lost to time. When the moon fell apart, Coerthas reverted to its natural, icy state.

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Originally Posted by LineageRazor

You might want to check out this old thread for more on the topic of Coerthas' climate change.

My personal theory was that Dalamud itself was using some of its power to keep Coerthas warm for some Allagan reason lost to time. When the moon fell apart, Coerthas reverted to its natural, icy state.

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Well it is nearby Dravania, a nation of dragons led by Bahamut's Siblings, as well as Azys Lla an the CT. Maybe they thought that keeping Dravania happy would help placate concerned masses, or maybe all the experiments they did made cold weather unviable for eith the populace or the experiments themselves

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Originally Posted by Belhi

I would put this down to Aether too.

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There's also how the immense amount of aether in play from Louisoix attempting to (sort of) summon the Twelve caused both healing and shifting (a bit) of other areas within Eorzea - lot of stuff going on with the aether of the land during that time.

For Coerthas, it's the fantasy version of what happened in The Day After Tomorrow, but instead of hurricane-like blizzards pulling in "super cooled" air from high in the atmosphere, it's a shifting of aether bringing in ice aspected aether that leads to a similar sort of snap freeze...though not quite as immediate (getting frozen where you stood isn't described as happening, but getting caught in rising snows or water that freezes suddenly was apparently a real threat).

The sudden rise of ice and snow WAS a real threat. We learned that Ysayle's village was buried from the snap freeze and blizzards. Her survival pushes Krile levels of miraculous.

it's weird that Drav Frontierland and The Black Shroud are green and the whole area between them is snow. At least the NW part of North Shroud should have some snow.

We are actually still missing a large chunk of Coerthas from 1.0, although some of this area has been added back in as Pvp's Fields of Glory. Coerthas Eastern (and Central apparently) Lowlands are actually in between Coerthas Central Highlands and the Shroud. That's more likely to be the transition area. That zone line is skipping over a huge area of land. If you look at the 1.0 maps the current Shroud/Coerthas zone line is just odd.

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Originally Posted by Naria

We are actually still missing a large chunk of Coerthas from 1.0, although some of this area has been added back in as Pvp's Fields of Glory. Coerthas Eastern (and Central apparently) Lowlands are actually in between Coerthas Central Highlands and the Shroud. That's more likely to be the transition area. That zone line is skipping over a huge area of land. If you look at the 1.0 maps the current Shroud/Coerthas zone line is just odd.

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Unless its just a translation error(which I hope it is) apparently Fields of Glory is in Eastern Highlands now. I hope this is looked into soon and corrected or we are told lowlands was retconned out. I still wish we got the central lowlands to transition into the snowy highlands, makes me sad every time :(

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Originally Posted by bass9020

I think it bothers me more that we didn't have any type of transition zones, we just skip straight into snow. I think they made the Hinterlands the new coerthas 1.0 sadly.

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From what I could tell from old maps. There are possible transition zones from Eastern and Lower Highlands. However we either pass through or go around them in 2.0+. The only exceptions is the transition into Dravanian Forelands. Yes Sohm Al is a volcano of sorts but crossing through the mountains into Western Coerthas has no transitional zone to speak of since it may not have existed in 1.0.

I personally think someone used the fallout of Bahamut as fuel for a perpetual winter. I think one of the story dialogs even mentioned that the weather was to unnatural. I believe the background for Dusk Vigil occurs after the incident and during the start of the endless winter that came shortly after the moon's fall. As far as loose ends I don't believe Shiva, her followers, or Nidhogg ever claimed to perpetuating the frost. Nor the mountains being tall enough to be mostly snow covered. The Sea Of Clouds and Churning Mists should be frozen over given their altitude and location to Coerthas. It would make sense if someone or something wanted the area to be isolated off and hard to pass through for yet unknown reasons.

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Originally Posted by Yuella

it's weird that Drav Frontierland and The Black Shroud are green and the whole area between them is snow. At least the NW part of North Shroud should have some snow.

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As a few others have said, there's a lot of land in between those areas that we don't actually see because everything in the game is condensed for the sake of convenience. While the Dravanian Forelands and the Coerthas Western Highlands are "next door" to each other, they are not literally a stepping stone away to have the weather affect both regions at once.