Encyclopedia II - Discussion

There was a discussion post for lore in the first volume, but surprisingly it has been weeks after fanfest, and we still have not made a thread for the second one.

Enjoy this thread, and discussing its information. I only ask that we do so in peace, and genuine fascination. :)

Did it mention anything about the history of the Au Ra?

Namely in regards to when/why the Raen moved from the steppe into eastern Othard and what caused the Xaela to schism into their current tribal culture.

I'm making a list of things to discuss.

But to answer your question, it seems like the Raen just got tired of the Steppe being in a state of constant warfare all the time and just left for other parts of Othard and Hingashi. It's never actually said that the Raen were forced to leave by the Xalea. However, the Xaela have always liked warfare and given that they probably weren't about to stop fighting each other, the Raen's only option to have a more peaceful culture would have been to leave.

While it never says why the Xaela divided into tribes, we do know that Xaela culture was around as early as the 4th Astral Era and that Bardam was apparently the winner of the first Nadaam ever held. If I were to take a guess... the Xaela probably split around the 4th Umbral Calamity and the fall of the Allagan Empire. The fact that the House of the Croked Coin and the crystal in it were a huge part of Azys Lla and Dalamud's construction seems to indicate the Allagans were busy in the Steppe around the time of the 4th Umbral Calamity. With the Crystal Tower being buried, anything of Allagan origin would lose power and the distance between Othard and Aldenard is significant. So any Xalea in the Steppe would have been cut off from the rest of the Empire.

Something that struck me interesting are the white Mol robes. They are not exclusive to their leaders. They are earned by the most skilled members of the tribe, and not allowed to fight in combat. This would be fun to roleplay.

There was lots to digest, but a few tidbits off the top of my head:

- Yotsuyu's full Garlean name was Yotsuyu goe Brutus (not sure if this was mentioned in material prior to the book coming out)
- The Fenrir we see in Snowcloak was basically just Ysayle's pet attack wolf she named after the legends, so technically there could be a primal version of Fenrir in the future
- The book acknowledges that the legends of Tsukuyomi in the context of Othard aren't terribly clear on gender, and that some interpretations did depict Tsukuyomi as a male. Don't have the book with me atm, but I believe the primal Tsukuyomi was female simply because the vessel for the summoning was a woman.

I think that one particularly interesting bit would be the mention of how the Lambs of Dalamud may be returning, more than partially among the Au Ra of the steppe who worship Nhamma. There's some fun lore implications regarding that, and some very fun possibilities for other random plot events.

Working my way through my newly-arrived EE2 now, and I've spotted a few curious additions that seem like they're in there entirely to be future plot hooks. The Lambs of Dalamud being possibly active with the Au Ra, as mentioned above, is one.

One thing which did surprise me was that there's a beastman Saint: Saint Tataroon, a Qiqirn, of the Sapience leveplate. So far he's the only beastman canonized.

Also the records of a missionary expedition that ended up adrift and cannibalizing each other is kind of grim, but also strangely quick, given everything happened in the course of 24 or so days. One would assume they'd be able to last at least a few months, just for a regular ship voyage.

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Originally Posted by CaesarCV

I think that one particularly interesting bit would be the mention of how the Lambs of Dalamud may be returning, more than partially among the Au Ra of the steppe who worship Nhamma. There's some fun lore implications regarding that, and some very fun possibilities for other random plot events.

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I could see that potentially serving as the plot for a Bardam's Mettle hard mode, personally.

From the latter third of the dungeon it looks as though there's remnants of civilization in there and likely a good place for them to conduct their shady activities.

Page 48:

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Other than a curious incident in which the ship was briefly detained in the Sirensong Sea, it is said that the voyage to the port city of Kugane in Hingashi was uneventful.

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Koji Fox (Savage)

EDIT TO ADD: The Stormblood story recap in EE2 can be summed up in one word: "Alas".

Someone with access to the text files should ctrl-f and search how many times that word occurs.

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Originally Posted by YianKutku

Also the records of a missionary expedition that ended up adrift and cannibalizing each other is kind of grim, but also strangely quick, given everything happened in the course of 24 or so days. One would assume they'd be able to last at least a few months, just for a regular ship voyage.

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Did a quick check, and that particular voyage was only supposed to last 8 days or, give or take, and it seems they supplied the ship with that specific voyage in mind, running out of fresh food stores by day 10 and turning to wormy hard tack and (I think importantly) salted pork.

By day 16, they had run out of fresh water and had to start using rum.

Salty foods and alcohol typically make thirst worse and dehydrate faster, and so the rum only lasted a couple days.

And so in the end it isn't the flesh that they were cannibalizing, but the blood, which started sometime 3+ days (and thus is consistent with the amount of time one can go before they really start to need water) after the last of the rum had been consumed, which happened on day 18 of what was supposed to be a short 8 day trip.

Hope that clears up that timeline a bit and why the situation still works, despite taking roughly a month to play out from start to bloody finish.

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Originally Posted by ChaoticCrimson

There was lots to digest, but a few tidbits off the top of my head:

- Yotsuyu's full Garlean name was Yotsuyu goe Brutus (not sure if this was mentioned in material prior to the book coming out)
- The Fenrir we see in Snowcloak was basically just Ysayle's pet attack wolf she named after the legends, so technically there could be a primal version of Fenrir in the future
- The book acknowledges that the legends of Tsukuyomi in the context of Othard aren't terribly clear on gender, and that some interpretations did depict Tsukuyomi as a male. Don't have the book with me atm, but I believe the primal Tsukuyomi was female simply because the vessel for the summoning was a woman.

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The Triple Triad card for Fenrir mentioned that many patches ago.

There are a lot of mentions of Seiryu in the sections about Othard and Hingashi. Seiryu did this, Seiryu did that, legends say this odd geographical formation is because of Seiryu, so on and so forth.

The other Four Lords have yet to be mentioned, and I'm about two-thirds of the way through EE2.

Hm! Question for you guys that own the book:

They elaborate any further on magic in the Far East? There are many SCH/SMN tomes with what appear to be eastern calligraphy in Stormblood.

Their version of conjury is really geomancy? How about thaumaturgy? There's Sadu which appears to be very skilled at it, but no background whatsoever regarding the culture of magic.

Yes! Lore Book 2 details what all the different glyphs in the spell books are. And it goes into more detail about the magic of the Far East.

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Originally Posted by Zohar_Lahar

The Triple Triad card for Fenrir mentioned that many patches ago.

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You know, I forgot that the TT cards had little lore tidbits lol. I'll have to take some time to take some time and go through those sometime I think.

The biggest revelation for me from the EE2 was that Asahi is older than Zenos.


Also, that scientist guy? He's dead, he's SO dead that they mention he's dead TWICE in the EE2. Both in the Garlean dominance of Ala Mhigo portion + his own character portrait.
Dist the Rose guy? DEAD. No, REALLY dead.

Which is a shame because he appears for like, a cutscene, gets into a battle, and then just like, slumps over.

...
Did I mention he's dead?

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Originally Posted by charmwitch

The biggest revelation for me from the EE2 was that Asahi is older than Zenos.


Also, that scientist guy? He's dead, he's SO dead that they mention he's dead TWICE in the EE2. Both in the Garlean dominance of Ala Mhigo portion + his own character portrait.
Dist the Rose guy? DEAD. No, REALLY dead.

Which is a shame because he appears for like, a cutscene, gets into a battle, and then just like, slumps over.

...
Did I mention he's dead?

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Feels like wasted potential to have killed him off, and honestly the end of the boss fight always left me feeling like we knocked him out rather than killing him, so it surprised me to hear he's dead as a doornail.

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Originally Posted by Bright-Flower

Feels like wasted potential to have killed him off, and honestly the end of the boss fight always left me feeling like we knocked him out rather than killing him, so it surprised me to hear he's dead as a doornail.

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To be fair he had tubes going into his lower back attaching him to his chair; as soon as I related he was physically integrated into the conveyor it seemed more palatable....
Despite that though....
You know who got confirmed dead in EE1? :cool: Gaius van Baelsar.

The Encyclopedias are only written to the best of an Eorzean scholar's knowledge.

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Originally Posted by Rocl

You know who got confirmed dead in EE1? :cool: Gaius van Baelsar.

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Indeed - and curiously, while his profile says he died, Livia and Rhitatyn's profiles on the same page talk about them in present tense with no mention of their deaths.

I can't help but find it...concerning that Aulus had access to tech that could casually strip someone's soul from their body. I think that would've been immediately lethal to anyone who wasn't blessed with the Echo.

Did the lorebook mention anything interesting about the Resonant research and such?

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Originally Posted by Rocl

To be fair he had tubes going into his lower back attaching him to his chair; as soon as I related he was physically integrated into the conveyor it seemed more palatable....
Despite that though....
You know who got confirmed dead in EE1? :cool: Gaius van Baelsar.

The Encyclopedias are only written to the best of an Eorzean scholar's knowledge.

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True, though I find it a lot less likely he'll come back. We see a body for him, and unlike the Praetorium, Ala Mhigo didn't explode to leave us with a reason for a body not to be found. I'm pretty sure he's legit dead.

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Originally Posted by charmwitch

Dist the Rose guy? DEAD. No, REALLY dead.

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I'm glad I'm not the only one who thought of this comparison lol.

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Originally Posted by KageTokage

I can't help but find it...concerning that Aulus had access to tech that could casually strip someone's soul from their body. I think that would've been immediately lethal to anyone who wasn't blessed with the Echo.

Did the lorebook mention anything interesting about the Resonant research and such?

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It had some (disturbing) stuff. Mainly on the Castrum Abania and Ala Mhigo pages and in some of the bestiary pages.

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Number XXIV (2nd boss of Castrum Abania)
Aulus mal Ascina sought to infuse pureblood Garleans with the ability to manipulate aether, and with his twenty-fourth subject he finally succeeded. The experiment was not without side effects, however, an the subject exhibited psychological instability. With further live testing, the scientist would go on to create the Resonant.

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Aulus mal Asina (2nd boss of Ala Mhigo)
Chief of research of the XIIth Imperial Legion, Aulus personally joined the fray during the siege of Ala Mhigo. Confronting the Heroes of Eorzea upon a magitek conveyor, he employed a weapon of his own creation which ripped their minds from their bodies. In this way he had intended to demonstrate his superiority, but his plan went awry and he died in vain.

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I find the use of "mind" here as opposed to "soul" interesting as a "soul" in FFXIV has a very particular meaning. If the WoL's soul was actually removed from their body, I'd think it would have been more specific about it.

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Hypertuned (from the Chimera page in the bestiary)
An unexpected byproduct of the Garlean Empire's research into the divine phenomenon most commonly known as the "Echo", these laboratory-born creatures serve but a s ingle purpose--to act as intermediaries, drawing aetherial energy form one medium and transferring it to another.

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Yeah... it looks like test-tube babies are a thing in Aulus' research. It's also a bit disturbing what they're used for. We see Eorzean mages transferring aetherial energy from one thing to another all the time with nothing more then their control over aether and maybe a focus or two...

The term 'Beast Tribe' was coined not by Garlemald but Ul'dah's Syndicate.

The Prima Vista was designed at Solus' behest by one of the few Beast Men permitted to live in Garlemald's capital. Namely someone called Baku, for an additional reference to FFIX.

The Sirensong Sea was a Radz-at-Han penal colony. Apparently it fell to the undead siren we fight there who, in turn, began luring others to the island to add to the ranks of undead.

Question: Does it explain what exactly happened in Shisui of the Violet Tides? The story in the game makes it sound like an Ascian tricked them into summoning voidsent, but it was never elaborated upon and there aren't any voidsent fought in the dungeon, at least to my knowledge.

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Originally Posted by Steelbreaker25

Question: Does it explain what exactly happened in Shisui of the Violet Tides? The story in the game makes it sound like an Ascian tricked them into summoning voidsent, but it was never elaborated upon and there aren't any voidsent fought in the dungeon, at least to my knowledge.

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I believe the final boss is a voidsent. The Ruby Princess might also be possessed by one.

The final boss is confirmed to be a voidsent. The voidsent held everyone in Shisui under its thrall including all the guards and the Ruby Princess herself. And yes, an Ascian did summon it from the Void.

One thing I love is how it revealed how Namazu domestic servants work. They're acknowledged as terrible servants, since they're clumsy, lackadaisical, and not very bright. So instead of Namazu servants being highly prized at actually doing their jobs, they're a sort of status symbol. Having Namazu servants around is a sign of one's wealth and generosity, since it shows the home can afford (and are nice enough) to keep around servants that either don't help very much or actively make things worse. It's comical enough to fit the race, and fits into historical examples of keeping around 'exotic' servants or slaves as a sign of one's sophistication and wealth.

I can only voice my annoyance by how Koji Fox and the lore team seems to say how many Raen there are around in Hingashi and Doma.

But the lorebook says there's only 10% Raen in Hingashi.

Raen is really getting the short end of the stick in terms of an Eastern themed expansion and all the lore is being given to Xaela. There's not even a single Raen in the Doman reconstruction place, but Buduga Xaela.