The Great Flood

Something has been bothering me about the Sixth Umbral Calamity: Where did all the flood waters go? It was apparently high enough to let an ark drift into the Gyr Abanian mountains. Yet that vessel is now nowhere near the sea, so all that water had to go somewhere. Or did the great continents just rise a few thousand malms by the start of the Sixth Astral Era?

The Calamities are like a grab bag of Earth's hypothetical and mythological apocalypses. Much like the biblical flood myths, tales of the Sixth Umbral Calamity refer to sudden and unending rains that caused the floods.

The hydrological cycle of a planet (even when its out of whack) is a closed system - water isn't added or removed (or created or destroyed) on a large scale, it just changes forms and moves a lot. Whatever the cause, then, we can infer that the water at some point, in some way was sourced from the oceans, and to them did it eventually return. Unless it becomes trapped somewhere, water always heeds the call of gravity.

All rivers run toward the sea, but the sea is never full.

There are a few ways to adjust this mythology to make it more easy to believe.

First, there's the possibility that this wasn't a global phenomenon, but a regional one that was characterized as such. If something engulfs your whole world, as far as you can see, as far as you've been, many who tell that tale will suggest all that is affected. This seems to be the case with many real-world flood myths; geological evidence supports many of them, but rarely do the tale and evidence line up chronologically - suggesting many regional events remembered as global ones.

Another possibility is to blame aether. Measurements before the flood suggested the aetherial balance of the realm was experiencing an aspect-shift towards water. Look at the properties of a crystal or sprite that becomes aspected towards water - synthesis and quest flavor suggest that these energies facilitate drawing, absorbing, retaining, filtering, and extracting water depending on the situation. If the greater part of the realm's (world's...?) aetherial balance careens towards water, perhaps that makes it easier for the area around it to have water drawn to it and wash over it (as rain), receding when the imbalance abates.

If the Sixth Calamity only hit Eorzea, then that still leads to two other questions:

1. Where did Oha-sok draw all the water from to lather, rinse, and wash off all of Eorzea?

2. Does this mean places like the Far East were not reset by the Sixth Rejoining? If there were still civilizations there unscathed, then why did it take Lahabrea another 1500 years before the seventh rejoining could occur? I don't understand how the Rejoining affects global history at all.....

Isn't Eorzea the most aether-gifted (not sure what term to use) region of the planet? So far seems like in every calamity attempt the ascians only focus on Eorzea, maybe that's Hydaelyn's "weak point".

You can have a global calamity that affects each region differently; its very possible Ala Mhigo was flooded and Doma had a drought or blight or something else. Also, while we have a lot of Eorzean lore and history, I don't think we have nearly as much lore about Doma's history or what they went through during that time period.

As Anonymouse stated, the world is a closed system. The water came from the ocean, evaporated to the clouds, rained on Eorzea then drained away via rivers to thee ocean or returning to the underground aquifers over time. There's no reason to believe the water would have stayed that high for long (geologically speaking), maybe only a week or two at that height and a few months for water levels to subside to normal levels.

Think of our own world and how it floods; waters crest high, lose half that height relatively quickly then gradually return to normal levels afterward. We have no reason to believe Eorzea works differently in this regard.

I would lean towards blaming aether, but not so much that it gathered up water. If you have aether strongly aspected towards water it just creates water. After the calamity, the aether was unaspected and the water disappeared.

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Originally Posted by Zohar_Lahar

It was apparently high enough to let an ark drift into the Gyr Abanian mountains

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We actually don't know how higher the waters rose, but it's actually likely they didn't reach the height of the peaks in that area - the Roe responsible for building that ark (Nyunkrepf) also cast a teleportation spell when a tidal wave was bearing down on it, and that's how it ended up on top of the peaks in Gyr Abania. From the Lore Book description of those events, they were stuck there while waiting for the rain to stop, before fleeing the area and building another ship in the Dravinian Hinterlands and sailing north, eventually founding the city of Sharlayan.

Also of note is that the reason they fled Gyr Abania was to escape those who had also taken refuge in the peaks during that time who turned to fighting and killing over the resources (such as food) available in the area.

So while it was catastrophic in nature, it did not cover the entire realm in water.

Without logging in to check (and using my dusty memory), the Ziggurat sightseeing log mentions it was built by the Amdapori and Mhachi refugees together, as an anchor to still the unbalanced aether currents in the region and calm the weather. So I would be inclined to think aether has a lot to do with the flood and rain?

Well, I think the nature of matter in FFXIV is highly different to real world examples. Simply put, manipulating aether can lead to effects that run counter to what would happen in a purely physical world. Much in the way that the aether currents are responsible for the freezing of Coerthas.

Aether strongly aspected to one element will cause that element to manifest, one needs only to look at spells like Stone or Fluid Aura. A sudden influx of an extremely large amount of water aether would appear as a massive flood, which then recedes as the aether balance tips back to normal.

In fact, I'm going to theorize that each of the calamities were actually the result of a large influx of aether of a specific element caused by the rejoining of one of the shards that happens at the same time.

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Originally Posted by Shadotterdan

I would lean towards blaming aether, but not so much that it gathered up water. If you have aether strongly aspected towards water it just creates water. After the calamity, the aether was unaspected and the water disappeared.

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This is also what I believe to be the most likely explanation. When a Conjurer casts a water spell they literally create water from aether. It stands to reason that the Elementals are capable of the same.

It's worth noting that there is a theory that the Biblical flood was caused by a massive geological catastrophe along the undersea fault lines, likely the Mid-Atlantic considering the final location of the Ark was Turkey. The sudden lava flows caused huge amounts of moisture to evaporate, and the earthquakes caused widespread tsunamis.

A similar concept could be applied to the Calamity of Water. As suggested above, it's possible Othard suffered a draught while Aldenard was flooded.


On an entirely different note, since Ala Mhigo is heavily inspired by Turkey, Nyunkrepf's Ark being up in the mountain made me happy.

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Originally Posted by Zelle

Every name and location and boss was just rehashed from old stories. Even their new "guest creators" for this upcoming patch are just taking material from things they designed for SE in 1995. New graphics does not mean new content; we need to let SE know that we know this

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Fordola says no, and you're wrong any way. following through on what was foreshadowed doesn't make it rehashed.

and homages to the past can definitely be new content, Hello Sherlock.

My simple explanation:
Dalamud was a moon.
Moon's have gravity.
Gravity causes tides, e.g. height difference in water level.
Epic moonfall causes epic tides.

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Originally Posted by Raqrie_Tohka

My simple explanation:
Dalamud was a moon.
Moon's have gravity.
Gravity causes tides, e.g. height difference in water level.
Epic moonfall causes epic tides.

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Dalamud was a ridiculously tiny moon, though. Bahamut filled almost the whole thing, and he's small enough that players standing on his palm don't have a lot of room to move around. It'd say that Dalamud has a whole was maybe the size of a largish town, and unless it's extraordinarily dense (which we can be pretty sure it is not, being hollow and filled with Bahamut), the tidal forces it can exert would be very minor.

And anyway, this thread is about the great flood, which happened long, long ago, at the end of the Fifth Astral Era. There was no epic moonfall back then - that's a very recent thing, only five years ago. It's an entirely different calamity, and this one didn't involve any flooding (or, at least, not a lot).

Ah ok, sorry thought was the recent calamity. So I googled the right one and found this.

"This wanton abuse of the lands' aether provoked the anger of the Elementals. From their collective wrath came Oha-Sok, an unaspected elemental that decided to to eliminate the warring factions with a catastrophic flooding of the realm."

There's your Deus Ex Machina. Overpowered demi-god elementals. Nothing to do with scientific laws of physics, gravity, geology, all that. Seems like there was also no WoL party to down it back then, too.

Well we know from the patch site that the Drowned City of Skalla became a drowned city during the Great Flood, however it was already uninhabited at that point.

Dumb question: Where actually is Mhach? Dravania?

EDIT: Just had to check the wiki. It is between Mor Dhona and Coerthas. So one of the regions we skip over via loading screens.

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Originally Posted by Alberel

This is also what I believe to be the most likely explanation. When a Conjurer casts a water spell they literally create water from aether. It stands to reason that the Elementals are capable of the same.

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That or they draw water from the moisture in the air. WHM is about being true to its connection to earth, water and wind elements, to the life force of the planet it stands on. Just look at holy. You literally draw power from the ground. Stones are pulled from the earth, one pebble smashed with 10,000.

How i imagine it.

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Originally Posted by Balipu

Well we know from the patch site that the Drowned City of Skalla became a drowned city during the Great Flood, however it was already uninhabited at that point.

Dumb question: Where actually is Mhach? Dravania?

EDIT: Just had to check the wiki. It is between Mor Dhona and Coerthas. So one of the regions we skip over via loading screens.

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Yeah, Mhach sits in the Yafaemi Saltmoor.

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Originally Posted by Raqrie_Tohka

There's your Deus Ex Machina. Overpowered demi-god elementals. Nothing to do with scientific laws of physics, gravity, geology, all that. Seems like there was also no WoL party to down it back then, too.

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Actually, this gives me a new point to bring up, while aether is treated like matter is in the context of FFXIV, unlike real matter, aether is finite. In fact, the whole act of a calamity using up aether in astronomical amounts is the Ascian's whole game plan, since it forces Hydaelyn to make up the difference out of her own being and/or to eat up one of the shatterred reflection worlds.

This means all that water is probably just outright gone from the world, repurposed for other things that need aether, like our rock goddess mom having a pulse for a little longer.

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Originally Posted by Ametrine

In fact, the whole act of a calamity <...> forces Hydaelyn to make up the difference out of her own being and/or to eat up one of the shatterred reflection worlds.

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Is there a citation for this? I've seen the whole "Calamities are Hydaelyn purposely eating other worlds because she's been drained of aether" thing referred to in the past, but so far it's always led back to Ethys Asher videos, which state that it's his personal favorite hypothesis for the time being.

I get nervous seeing anything that is (as far as I know) speculative presented as confirmed fact (including from myself).

https://thumbs.gfycat.com/DangerousK...tard-small.gif
FANON IS THE DEVIL

As far as I know, the most information that we have confirmed is that a "confluence of chaos" in the aether on the Source side "blows out the dimensional barrier" and causes the world to be rejoined. Do we know anything about how or why?

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Originally Posted by Warrior of Darkness

For there is but one way to restore the balance and save our home: the Ardor. Calamitous destruction with the power to break down the barriers between planes, and see our worlds rejoined.

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Originally Posted by The Word of the Mother

They seek to tear down the barriers which surround the Source.

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Originally Posted by Encyclopedia Eorzea

This hypothesis continues by stating that of the fourteen parallel dimensions (the original upon which Eorzea exists), seven have already faded into oblivion at the hands of the Ascians who, from the safety of Eorzea, work to topple the walls between dimensions, causing them to collapse in on themselves.

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Originally Posted by Ametrine

Actually, this gives me a new point to bring up, while aether is treated like matter is in the context of FFXIV, unlike real matter, aether is finite. In fact, the whole act of a calamity using up aether in astronomical amounts is the Ascian's whole game plan, since it forces Hydaelyn to make up the difference out of her own being and/or to eat up one of the shatterred reflection worlds.

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I get the impression aether is finite in the same sense the amount of blood in a person's body is finite. One can give a blood donation and eventually have that deficit refilled through daily activities, but if you lose too much blood too quickly you'll die.

EDIT: In light of Moose's timely reminder, I should mention that this is only my own speculation based on my immediate impressions of the text (eg in the lorebook).

Honestly, using the quotes Moose gave as the concrete stance, that's just what I understood was happening between the egregious amounts of flavor text spit out by anyone hinting towards the truth, particularly the Word or the Mother.


Seems Ethys and I came to the same conclusion, anyway;

"Make up the difference from her own being"
I'm referring to events such as Hydealyn's direct intervention during the Ultima fight. We know Hydaelyn is much weaker than she used to be from the Calamity induced aether drain, this is confirmed by Midgardsomr and Krile. Krile in particular remarks Matoya's Eye is a very, very old crystal of light. The recently gifted crystals employed by the WoL, the WoD, and Ysayle are dwarfed by it both in size and power.

We know she's weaker, and we know Hydaelyn=the source of all life, and we know our world is the Source, the original, so the primary one Hydaelyn is forced to care for. (The only thing I don't have much inkling of is if the whole Hydaelyn=life is absolutely literal. As in, is Hydaelyn a seperated, dimensional being overseeing the worlds or is the giant crystal just our brains trying to make sense of anything and everything being condensed into one singular form? Or both? Neither?)

"Eat up the shattered reflections."
Breaking down the dimensions through Calamities is the Ascian goal, correct? Well, we have confirmation that the world so overwhelmed by darkness, the Void (as confirmed by Unulkahai), is garbage to their plan. Conversely, the Warriors of Darkness are witnessing the opposite problem, and worked side by side with the Ascians to fix their world from being all light. Aether to grossly warped to such purity on one end of the other is useless for the Joining, which refers to either the reflection breakdown post calamity or hooking Zodiark back up to Hydaelyn. Context seems to indicate both are the same.

We also know that the world's aether acts cyclical. You die, your aether returns to the earth, which fuels more life BUT using certain magic burns it up outside this neat cycle, which causes very nasty side effects to the balance (WHM quests and basically every focussing on the third astra era).

Looking at all that all that split up terminology, that was my best conclusion with the current info. Hydaelyn is running low on her personal aether stores. Calamities on the Source are sending aether in their so out of wack that the dimensions between the source and reflections break down, but the reflections with aether aspects that are almost primarily a single type are no good.

So... What else would the dimension breakdown and subsequent destruction of those reflection worlds be doing other than freeing up the variety of aether there to pump back into the Source? Using Yian's metaphor, it'd be like a blood transfusion given to someone who is very sick but would otherwise die without it.