Dalamud

Just a silly question... maybe it was explained and I missed it (I try, but since the game is not in my native language, sometimes I don't get every detail in the game).

Does Othard think something about Dalamud's dissappearance from the sky five years ago? Or everyone there already knows about the Eorzean's seventh Calamity?

The Calamity was never brought up while visiting Othard, and the only group of people who we know for certain would have cared (the Dalamiq Xaela tribe) aren't encountered.

It's not unreasonable to believe Othardians are aware of Dalamud's fall, but what they think about it and how it affected them is unknown.

What I want to know is how its disappearance affected astrology. I know Sharlayan astrology is based mainly on stars and constellations, but still, you'd think having a moon fall out of the sky would be a big deal.

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Originally Posted by Brightamethyst

What I want to know is how its disappearance affected astrology. I know Sharlayan astrology is based mainly on stars and constellations, but still, you'd think having a moon fall out of the sky would be a big deal.

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The low level Astrologian quests mention in passing that the lack of Dalamud has affected Sharlayan astrology's readings. It shouldn't really bother Ishgardian astrology since they focus on the movements of the Dragon Star. In the opening Astrologian quest Jannequinard rattles off a tarot reading using Dalamud, in fact:

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It is as my morning reading predicted. Dalamud was in detriment in the House of the Spire while ascending over the ecliptic!

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And Levava reiterates it is still used in the Noctural Sect readings:

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The nocturnal sect contains those celestial bodies ruled by the two moons. I say two, because since the dawn of astrology, disciples of our field have used Dalamud in their readings. Now, even after the false moon's fall, its position...or should I say, its absence, yet has influence over our fates.
Whereas the sun and the diurnal stars represent the self, expression, the active─and the moon and the nocturnal stars represent the unconscious, the passive─Dalamud represents, and still does represent the uncontrollable. Its power has the ability to quicken the senses, as well as provide added protection from the unknown─things beneficial when pursuing one's fate.

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It's rather unthinkable that your average Othardian citizen wouldn't know of the Calamity. They would've seen the turn red, 'grow,' and disappear. We also know that the sundering of Dalamud was visible from Old Sharlayan via telescope, so it's possible it'd be observable from Othard as well. Given the Imperial presence in most of the Othardian places as well, there's definitely a steady stream of information coming into, like Kugane and Doma. The Auri tribes are least likely to know/care about the fall--the aforementioned Dalamiq would've certainly noticed, but given the past tense in their description I'm curious how long ago they stopped worshiping Dalamud, lol.

Additionally:

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Dalamud’s spectacular demise gave rise to a tidal wave of aetheric energy which rendered linkshells all but useless for a period of many days.

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Seems like it'd impact things on a global scale.

From what I understand, while Dalamud isn't in the sky anymore it's still used in astrological readings. Its former position can still be tracked, so its influence on fortunes can still be felt.

How far Dalamud's explosion would have rendered linkshells inoperable is... debatable. Assuming it functions like a high-altitude EMP burst, it would depend on the altitude and strength of the explosion... Dalamud looked pretty close to impacting the surface, though the amount of aetherial disruption had to be very high. I'd wager it affected Eorzea and nearby areas (the surrounding seas and near parts of Ilsabard), but that's going on science... which is faulty when it comes to fantasy physics. I doubt it would affect the whole planet, but... fantasy physics, so who knows?

Interesting. It's been forever since I did the lower level AST quests. I must have missed or forgotten about that.

As expansions take us further afield, I begin to wonder just how limited in scope any era's calamity may have been. Going through HW, I don't really remember hearing any mention of the Calamity outside of Coerthas. Dravania and beyond seem fairly unscathed.

As far as I can tell from 1.0 screencaps, Dalamud stays in place once it starts falling past a certain point as it can be seen at all times of day or night. It stops rotating around the main moon and the planet and goes into geosynchronous orbit over the Lunar Transmitter (or whatever Nael ends up being). One it gets low enough, gravity does the rest.

Othard would most likely have seen Dalamud stop orbiting and freeze in place and then slowly drop over the horizon line all while the main moon acts as normal. Given how far Othard is from Aldenard (three months of sea travel at least (EDIT: whoops, two moths actually)), they probably wouldn't have seen Dalamud get anywhere near as big as Eorzea saw it get. It would probably be like watching something drop onto Rome from orbit from the point of view of Tokyo. It's possible that for a lot of people, Dalamud just vanished over the course of a day and was never seen again.

As far as Calamities go... Aldenard probably gets hit the worst. Silvertear is apparently the source of all aether and it's in Eorzea. It also probably depends on what Calamity is being talked about. The first five Calamities (Wind, Lightning, Fire, Earth, Ice) seem to have effected much more then just Aldenard in their scope. The sixth Calamity (Water) seems to be a lot more localized. I think it's still too early to tell if the last Calamity (Space) is large-scale or not. There does seem to be a trend of the Calamities becoming more and more localized until the 7th Calamity.

The Calamities of Wind (1st), Lightning (2nd), and Fire (3rd) all have to do with atmospheric conditions. The Calamity of Wind apparently destroyed everything and is what kicks off the Umbral/Astral Era dating system that is used everywhere. The Calamity of Lightning is the result of large-scale volcanic activity that lasts an entire year and is so intense humanity moves underground. The Calamity of Fire is the result of the sun getting bigger or burning hotter for a prolonged period of time. All of those would effect all of Hydalyen no matter the location, if in different ways.

The Calamity of Earth is a little different. The immediate earthquake effected the Mor Dhona region the most (the Allagan Capital is swallowed up), but the impact of that is worldwide. By then, the Allagans had conquered the three continents at least and Dalamud powered the Crystal Tower which powered the entire Allagan Empire. So in a single instant, the entire Allagan Empire lost power. It's not a world-wide geographical impact, but a world-wide sociological impact this time around.

The Calamity of Ice is said to frozen over the Bloodbrine Sea, north of Aldenard. It shares borders with Old Sharlayan and the southern Ilsabard Coast. It's also said that icebergs were found as far south as the Jade Sea which is South-East of Gyr Abania. It seems likely that Ilsabard was hit as hard (or harder) then Eorzea as it's further north then Eorzea is. I can't find anything about how Othard was effected by it.

The Calamity of Water is probably the most localized. It seems to have primarily effected the Twelveswood, Gyr Abania and Mor Dhona with overflowed rivers, lakes and tidal waves. Vylbrand is effected as well, mainly by tidal waves, but it seems to be more as a result of everything happening in Aldenard then the focus of the Calamity itself. What makes this one tricky to judge is that we hear more about the Mage Wars that lead up to the Calamity then we actually do about the Calamity itself. This is also the first Calamity that we hear of people who may be that era's Warriors of Light. While they couldn't stop the Calamity from happening, there are records of them saving a lot of people who would otherwise have died.

The Calamity of Space? maybe? Also known as the 7th Umbral Calamity. Parts of this Calamity are very localized, other parts are very widespread. While the debris field of Dalamud's fall is contained entirely within Eorzea, there's a lot of other, more subtle effects that will probably be felt the world over for centuries to come. Dalamud falling changed the heavens for everyone on the entire planet regardless of where they were. For one thing, Astromancy will forever be changed. Dalamud's position is important in star charts and Astrology and still needs to be calculated for everything to work out right. This Calamity was also partially blunted by Louisoix, the WoL, etc. It's safe to say the Calamity would have been even worse then it turned out to be if they hadn't gotten involved.

Basicly, Aldenard is always part of the effected region of the Calamities. The Calamities more often then not are large enough to effect places well outside Aldenard's borders though. Just because we don't have records of the Calamities happening in those areas, doesn't mean they weren't hit. Calamities almost always lead to the break down of the current society and records are really, really hard to find thousands of years after they're created... unless it's Allagan records...

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Originally Posted by ObsidianFire

Given how far Othard is from Aldenard (three months of sea travel at least)

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Off on a tangent, but.... three months. We were travelling on Carvallain's ship for three months (or even, let's say its a particularly fast ship, one month) and that time just doesn't exist from a player perspective. Very strange when I stop to think about it. How much character interaction should have happened during that time?

Which raises a whole bunch of other questions as well. Let's assume it took three months to get to Kugane the first time at level 60. Once there getting back was easy because of aetherytes and telelporting, but what about everyone else? After Doma was there a few months worth of waiting around on Hien and Co. sailing to Eorzea before all the stuff went down in Ala Mihgo?

This game is really bad about showing the passage of time between story events. There's a big disconnect between us seeing everything happening in quick succession and logic saying that it must be days or weeks in between.

Actually, my mistake, kinda. It takes the fastest trading vessels with favorable weather two months to get from Vylbrand to Doma. It's a bit of a throwaway line in the geography section of the lore book. The other distance mentioned is that it takes at least two weeks to get from Old Sharlayan to Vylbrand if the weather stays good. Slower vessels will obviously take longer.

None of that info makes it into the game as far as I can tell. I'm pretty sure the story team really isn't thinking about things like travel time though. It's hard to clue most people in to character development that could happen off-screen, so it's better to just let people RP whether it happens or not.

Carvallain's ship the Misery was fitted secretly with magitek (cereleum) engines though - the sails were mostly just for show (and possibly to lure opponents into a false sense of superiority thinking they have no wind to move). This was revealed in the cutscenes leading into Sirensong Sea - Alphinaud tells Carvallain to turn on his engines and the pirate glares bemusedly to him with a "How did you know?" look - either way the beacon on Sirensong Sea seemed to intefere with the engines as they cut out (this would also explain why one of the wrecked vessels in Sirensong Sea was clearly a Garlean airship).

So I wonder whether Sirensong Sea was actually interfering with travel between Eorzea and the Far East - with that no longer an issue it's only natural that suddennly vessels would find their journey times slashed (it would certainly explain Hien and Yugiri's sudden and fortuitous appearance at the Battle of Ala Mhigo in any event).

The Sirensong Sea is directly south of Thavnair and is the the halfway point to Hingashi. The island we end up on is treated by everyone on the Misery as being something very abnormal. So I doubt it's adding more to the travel time on a regular basis.

Technically, the Misery's cereleum engines are illegal. Carvallain and other privater captains are supposed to turn all Garlean Tech they seize over to the Maelstrom. Carvallain apparently hasn't been doing that. It would explain a lot of why he's able to raid Garlean ships with high success rates though. He's probably not making too much use of them in Eorzean waters as that would make his travel times too fast. He's probably stealing the cereleum to power them from the Garleans; getting ahold of cereleum in Eorzea isn't that easy as the only place that produces it is in Thanalan. And the Ironworks and the Airship companies get most of it. It also would require a lot of cereleum. The amount of cereleum needed to get from Eorzea to Hingashi is one of the reasons the Scions aren't traveling by airship. Sea travel would take even longer and require more fuel. I took Carvallain's reaction to Aslisae telling him to turn them on as resigning himself to the Scions having a lot of blackmail material on him by then...

Two months, by the way, is a good estimate of how long it would take in the age of fast sailing ships to sail from the Western Coast of Europe to Japan if Africa ended at the Equator instead of jutting out like it does.

7th calamity isn't space, I would say it's non-elemental. Non-elemental is a recurring theme in FF games and is usually the "element" associated with things like Meteor, Flare, and Bahamut. http://finalfantasy.wikia.com/wiki/Non-elemental

The problem with Bahamut being non-elemental is that the Lore Book reveals Bahamut in FFXIV does have a specific element. Bahamut, when he was alive, was associated with the dawn/rising sun. He retained that association when he was summoned as a primal. He is a fire aspected primal, although the fire is more along the lines of solar fire then a mundane one.

Bahamut being aspected to solar aether is why he was even put in Dalamud. He's basically a magnet for solar aether which Dalamud collects and funnels to the Crystal Tower to power the Allagan Empire. Or at least, it did until the 4th Umbral Calamity. As far as I can tell, Bahamut/Dalamud didn't stop collecting solar aether once that happened. They simply never were ordered to release that energy until the Lunar Transmitter activation at Bozja Citadel.

Is Nidhogg considered "fire aspected"? I mean I know he's fire because he has fire based attacks, but I wonder if it's more like umbral fire (as he has a bunch of "dark" based fire attacks and purple flames too. An would Hraesvelgar be 'non-aspected' since he has a bunch of Light/Holy attacks?

There's a big difference between Bahamut, the dragon, and Bahamut, the primal. Tiamat, Bahamut's consort and the person who summoned Bahamut, the primal, goes so far to say that the two are completely different. The severity of the difference is even why she's stayed in Azyz Lla this entire time.

Dragons have their own aether aspects that works differently from anything else as a result of them being aliens to Hydalyn, the planet. The main difference is whether they have more wind or earth aether or an even mix of both as that determines what type of dragon they end up being. The closer dragons get to being descended from Migardsormr, the more non-normal their forms and aether seem to get. As Midgadrsormr's children, Bahamut, Nidhogg, Hrasvelgr, etc. probably have some of the most non-normal aether of anything living. The "normal" rules of aether apply to them very loosely.

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Originally Posted by Hasrat

As expansions take us further afield, I begin to wonder just how limited in scope any era's calamity may have been. Going through HW, I don't really remember hearing any mention of the Calamity outside of Coerthas. Dravania and beyond seem fairly unscathed.

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There was still some clear effects in Dravania: impact craters, several holes punched through the Churning Mists, damaged infrastructure in the abandoned Sharlayan colony (it's why the bridges were collapsed). A piece of of the neurolink even fell in Nidhogg's lair. By contrast, there was no sign of the Calamity's impact in Gyr Abania, just damage from the Omega vs. Shinryu fight.

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Originally Posted by Zohar_Lahar

By contrast, there was no sign of the Calamity's impact in Gyr Abania, just damage from the Omega vs. Shinryu fight.

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We don't know that. There's an awful lot of ruin architecture in the Peaks.

If any shards from Dalamud happened to fall within Gyr Abania then there's a good chance that they were dismantled and recycled for parts by the Garleans stationed there.

^This. See Castrum Occidens in Eastern La Nosca where the XIVth Legion managed to get to one of Dalamud's fragments before the Eorzean Alliance did and built a research center on top of it. Ironically... the WoL cleared out most of the fragments defenses that were keeping legion out...

The Empire also purposely destroyed a lot of the places of worship to Rhalgr found throughout the Peaks as they banned religion when they took over Gyr Abania. So that's also a major reason why there's so many ruins around.

The Garlean Empire only merely continued a policy of destruction against symbols of Rhalgr started by Ala Mhigo's Mad King Theodoric though - when he proscribed the Fists of Rhalgr he virtually purged everything associated with the worship of the God of Destruction, regardless of whether it was part of the Order of the Fist or merely a religious centre, declaring only worship of Nymeia the Spinner to be Ala Mhigo's official state religion.

Hence the various ruins in the Fringes and especially the 'Destroyer' statue at Loch Seld were specifically destroyed by Ala Mhigans under order from Theodoric, he even turned the Divine Audience stairway that was an altar for religious ceremonies for the later statue into a place of execution (this is why the statue's head is sunken to the bottom of the Loch - Theodoric ordered his soldiers to send it to the bottom to get rid of it).

The Garleans, being atheists, merely continued this policy, although it was part of their "no religion allowed" mentality which they placed on all their conquered states. Incidentally, as far as the opposite 'Ruiner' statue also being destroyed, which is clearly a statue of Theodoric himself, well, it's likely that was destroyed by Ala Mhigan citizens in turn, wrecking their vengeance on the most visible symbol of the King of Ruin after he had been deposed, somewhat ironic when you think about it. :p

The sightseeing log for 'Southwatch' in The Lochs paints a picture of some places simply falling into disrepair due to lack of use.