Contents of Allagan Tomestones

I've been wondering what kinds of computer data are stored on the myriad Allagan Tomestones we trade to Rowena's girls. Poetics for example has been persisting so long, yet I doubt it's merely poetry....

Is this likely an accurate guess?

Philosophy tomestones = philosophical musings?
Mythology tomestones = archive of myths and legends recorded in Third Astral Era
Soldiery tomestones = Allagan military data
Poetics tomestones = Arts, entertainment, video games, etc. of ancient Allag
Law tomestones = Allagan legal documents
Esoterics tomestones = esoterica (?)
Lore tomestones = history and geography as known during Third Astral Era
Scripture tomestones = ancient religious texts
Verity tomestones = truth and lies?
Creation tomestones = Crafting techniques and recipes? (would explain the Lost Allagan gear)

Have you noticed that they mirror the growth of civilization?

Philosophy - Wondering about things
Mythology - Belief systems form
Soldiery - Organized warfare and states
Poetics - Art rises from safety and structure
Law - Rules and standards form
Esoterics - Political inner circles, trade secrets, confidentiality
Lore - Education and experience give way to traditions
Scripture - Loose belief systems become rigid and organized
Verity - Truth
Creation - Knowledge of existence, trespass on the activities of the gods

I wonder if this was intentional or if I'm just seeing things, lol.

Where do you go after Creation? Enlightenment? Divinity? Transcendence? ... Strife? Rebellion? Collapse?

Maybe it's not Creation, just creation - decent technology. There'd be a lot farther to go from there. Exploration, discovery, academia and so on until you get to actual Creation ... Allagan Tomestones of Genesis at LV99? Rowena activates a brain trust and board of directors for the House of Splendors, Gerolt's bar tab mysteriously vanishes, neither are ever seen again?

Maybe away from Allag, and we can start it again. As an example, if it were Omega themed: Omegan Tomestones of Poetics and so on.

Whenever we get to the New World west of Vylbrand, I wonder if we'll get something other than Allagan tomestones... then find a stone with Allagan carvings instigating the question of who got there first.

If we go south towards Meracydia, we'll likely still find Allagan tomes left over from the war. If going into Ilsabard we'll definitely be finding more Allagan tomes, the Garleans found tomes in their neck of the world after all.

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Originally Posted by Anonymoose

Have you noticed that they mirror the growth of civilization?

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Are the square tomestones not older than the long ones we've been collecting since 2.0? This was at least the impression I got. Advances in data storage technology led to the High Capacity Tomestone and the Micro Tomestone, but the tomestones of verity and of creation share a form factor with the Early Model Tomestone, which suggests that the Stormblood tomestones are actually older than the ones we're used to.

Maybe truth and creation are meant to come before everything else.

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Originally Posted by Anonymoose

Creation - Knowledge of existence, trespass on the activities of the gods

I wonder if this was intentional or if I'm just seeing things, lol.

Where do you go after Creation? Enlightenment? Divinity? Transcendence? ... Strife? Rebellion? Collapse?

Maybe it's not Creation, just creation - decent technology. There'd be a lot farther to go from there. Exploration, discovery, academia and so on until you get to actual Creation ... Allagan Tomestones of Genesis at LV99? Rowena activates a brain trust and board of directors for the House of Splendors, Gerolt's bar tab mysteriously vanishes, neither are ever seen again?

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In French, the new tomestones are of Cosmogony, so explicitly the Universe creation. The German translation seems to follow the English according to Google Translate while the Japanese one while it seems that in Japanese these are the tomestones of "All Things".

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Originally Posted by Rongway

Are the square tomestones not older than the long ones we've been collecting since 2.0?

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An excellent point!

And enough to make me wonder if the names are following the age of the tomestone or the stage of the Final Fantasy XIV Token System.

Could interpret the names either way; Allag would be that arrogant, lol.

Hmmm.

Porn.

All of it.

Despite being a lore addict, none of this had occurred to me at all. Now I feel terrible for handing over all my tomes to Rowena for shinies instead of taking them back to my study and writing down all the information on them! And what, by the Twelve, is Rowena doing with them?! Is she amassing all this information with a view to world domination? Will Rowena turn out to be the final boss of FFXIV?! I am very suspicious now ...

Junk data. All of it. Xande's kill schedule. Fireside chats between Amon and Allag's citizens. Scylla's diary. Etc.

I mean, someone should have developed a new superweapon or something with all of those tomestones by this point if it was anything else... or they're all corrupted, and someone keeps hoarding them hoping maybe this one...

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Originally Posted by Elladie

Despite being a lore addict, none of this had occurred to me at all. Now I feel terrible for handing over all my tomes to Rowena for shinies instead of taking them back to my study and writing down all the information on them! And what, by the Twelve, is Rowena doing with them?! Is she amassing all this information with a view to world domination? Will Rowena turn out to be the final boss of FFXIV?! I am very suspicious now ...

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Would she even be able to access the data on them? My impression is that they function like USB drives, and would require a terminal with a proper port, possibly multiple terminals depending on whether or not the early-model and late-model tomestones are compatible with the same ports.

^ Rowena has implied in the Stormblood SMN story line that she does, in fact, have the proper terminals and tools to access the data in the tomestones.

Without giving too much away, "something-something" happened, and Y'mhitra and to WoL were advised by Rammbroes of the Sons of Saint Coinach to find more information about the Allagans from Rowena.

Rowena uncharacteristically agreed.

In fact, she offered to lend Y'mhitra the transcripts of what her flunkies had found so far, to save her from the trouble of getting the right equipment to access the tomestones in question, on the condition that Y'mhitra tells her about anything significant she learns. Rowena complained that there's too much data, and she doesn't have all the time in the world to browse ancient history.

More specifically, she seems to have a certain symbiotic relationship with the Garland Ironworks:

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Originally Posted by Rowena

Well, I suppose it wouldn't hurt to lend you some o' my tomestones. In fact, I'll do you one better and let you borrow the transcripts─courtesy o' the scribes at the Ironworks. As books, they're a damn sight heavier, but you don't need fancy machines when it's all penned down in ink and parchment. Give me a summary of the contents when you're finished, and I'll consider that as payment. Collectors'll part with more coin if they know what they're gettin', and my time's too precious to waste on readin' ancient history!

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Originally Posted by Elladie

And what, by the Twelve, is Rowena doing with them?! Is she amassing all this information with a view to world domination? Will Rowena turn out to be the final boss of FFXIV?! I am very suspicious now ...

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We sell the tomestones to Rowena for things (yes, to us it looks like we're buying gear with tomestones, but from her perspective, she's buying our tomestones for dirt cheap). She eventually sells the tomestones to rich third parties who have tomestone readers. Given the various types of tomestones available, her end clientele are probably varied as well. Historical records might be absurdly valuable to one, while another might be interested strictly in artistic literature. But whatever type of knowledge the different tomestones contain, there's sure to be some rich person somewhere who'll pay out the arse for those tomestones, and Rowena is going to capitalize where she can.

Some assumptions/headcanon:
While the name of the tomestone denotes what general category it's contents fall under each tomestone is not necessarily unique in it's contents. A lot of what we're handing over is probably duplicate data, but Rowena doesn't know for sure and is willing to risk it.
Eventually Rowena amasses so many duplicates (as identified by the Ironworks) that she no longer feels it is worthwhile to collect a particular kind of tomestone, reasoning that shes got just about everything from that category.
At this point does one last going out of style sale and collects whatever anyone has left in exchange for older tomestones that might still contain something of value in a bid to grab whatever missing data might still be out there.
Esoteric Tomestone contain ancient Allagan memes/ personal information not widely distributed.
Lost Allagan gear was created based on a design found within the tomestones, intended for front line fighters and extrapolated for casters and such. Rowena is unaware that the design was just a concept piece created by an Allagan artist. Jessie is very much aware.

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Originally Posted by koichi88

Esoteric Tomestone contain ancient Allagan memes

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You have my attention.

Isn't it implied that the ironworks, and primal gear were developed based on information from the tomestones?