Sylphs on the First?

Any hints or mentions of them? The other major tribes we see, or their absence is understandable (no Allagans so no Ixali presumably, and no Midgardsormr so no Dravanians). Just wondering if I missed something that explained them.

I'm sure they existed but most likely died in the Flood.

Likely all dead. Namazu were mentioned in the Qitari Beast Tribe quest line. The Flood really wrecked the shard all over.

I guess I figured they’d be fine because the other Eorzean counterparts were. Just seems kind of odd.

The Pixies are the closest, but their absence is strange, however that could be chalked up to them dying in the flood, along with the equivalents of the HW and onward tribes such as the Vanu Vanu, Annata, Kojin, Gnath, etc.

As another use mentioned, the Flood of Light wrecked everything all around, even the edges of Norvrant weren't safe as Ahm Areneg can attest.

The other possibility is that the Sylphs were secretly descended from Allagan creations, but that seems more likely to fit the Annata if anything, and is rather farfetched besides.

The others have the benefits of being in countries outside of the original five areas of FFXIV (Ishgard, Ul'dah, Gridania, Limsa Lominsa, and Mor Dhona). Of the ones who show up in the original, you have Moogles, Ixali, Sylphs, Amal'jaa, Sahagin, Kobolds, and Dravanians (I add the last as a meaningful one as they're the catalyst for Shiva to an extent). Only three of those don't pop up, and two of them are dependent on things unique to the Source, so Sylphs are just the odd man out. Not saying that them being killed in the Flood isn't the case, it just seems like a strange omission when the others all showed up. Would have been neat to see them with the Pixies and perhaps compare/contrast the two.

It's also possible that there were never sylphs there at all. It's not like we know anything about sylphic history. They may post-date the Sundering.

The Pixies are in most likelihood the Sylphs of the First. They act like them to a fault, with the only difference being appearance (and we don't really know why Sylphs have the appearance they do to begin with).

Sylph's are unique to the Twelveswood, so my guess would be that the devs didn't want to cheapen that. They aren't really like the Fae, save that they levitate and have Fae like mannerisms, as they were FFXIV's first take on a Fae-like race.

I'd say that it's because either the Twelveswood counterpart, if you don't view it to be Raktika, was destroyed by the Flood, or that there was never a Twelveswood, so there were no Sylphs on The First. That's just my take on it though.

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Originally Posted by Vyrerus

Sylph's are unique to the Twelveswood, so my guess would be that the devs didn't want to cheapen that. They aren't really like the Fae, save that they levitate and have Fae like mannerisms, as they were FFXIV's first take on a Fae-like race.

I'd say that it's because either the Twelveswood counterpart, if you don't view it to be Raktika, was destroyed by the Flood, or that there was never a Twelveswood, so there were no Sylphs on The First. That's just my take on it though.

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That does make sense, if the Sylphs were created by the Elementlas (which would either ceased to be on the First or just flat-out never existed there) then they are technically in the same boat as the Ixal "artificial" lifeforms who emerged after the sundering.

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Originally Posted by Brightamethyst

It's also possible that there were never sylphs there at all. It's not like we know anything about sylphic history. They may post-date the Sundering.

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The Encyclopedia's entry on sylphs says even their own creation myth says other races existed before them, in contrast to how most creation myths say a race was the first to come into being. So that may mean they're post-Sundering.

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Originally Posted by MirronTulaxia

I guess I figured they’d be fine because the other Eorzean counterparts were. Just seems kind of odd.

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Shards aren't like countries, planets or even galaxies. They're not even in the same dimension, to an extent. Consider the following! If someone spat on you on the First, that same person didn't spit on you on the Source.

I mean they're technically alternate timelines, but the point of divergence was so far off that the ripples and butterflies resulted in them being very unlike the Source. Which I suppose tends to happen to alt-histories over a very long period.

It's hard to say, the actual placement of the various races is placed somewhat difference in the First compared to the source just because of the difference in the history.

Like the Auri variation in the First were more common in the area that reflected Coerthas compared to the Source where they are primarily Migrants from Othard and Hingashi specifically.

Even the Beast Tribe quests spoke of the Namazu in the Rak'tika where there is no canon appearance of the Namazu in Eorzea. The Shards were only the same up to the point of the Sundering after that history could play out on the shards in their own way. This means any of the missing beast tribes or non-playable races such as the Garleans never came to be, went extinct for some reason, or disappeared due to the flood.

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Originally Posted by Gula

Shards aren't like countries, planets or even galaxies. They're not even in the same dimension, to an extent. Consider the following! If someone spat on you on the First, that same person didn't spit on you on the Source.

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I'm not sure that really follows because it is rather literally the same planet. Just copied and then different timelines (and Ascian meddling). That's why the ruins of the original cities are there after all.

And the point of "things are different" would have a bit more weight if all of the Spoken races on the Source and most of the Eorzean Beast Tribes weren't around. That they are really makes it lose impact. As is it seems just kind of arbitrary.

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Originally Posted by MirronTulaxia

I'm not sure that really follows because it is rather literally the same planet.

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Right, but the Sundering wasn't THAT long ago. 10,000 years is long enough for empires to rise and fall and for technology to diverge and such, but not long enough for biology to drastically change. It's not weird at all that most intelligent races (barring artificially created or enhanced ones) are older than that.