Ancient world geography and points of interest

So, as the First and the source are pretty much different versions of the same planet, with regions of one being directly related to regions in the other, I think it's very safe to assume that the unsundered world also featured more or less the same geography as the Source, perhaps with small differences.

That being said, where you believe the main things could be located? Would Amaurot be located roughly around where Eorzea and Norvrandt are? What about Elpis? And other locations?

Those are questions that have been lingering in my mind ever since 6.0... I hope we get more info about the specifics of the ancient world in future patches :)

If we go under the knowledge that the various calamities have moved everything around, and that the area under steep cliffs of Kholusia are actually the water UNDER Limsa Lominsa on the source (remember, there was a great flood and water levels rose), then it's likely Amaurot was a good ways away off the coast of La Noscea.

Amaurot is, reasonably speaking, somewhere around where we found it in the First; so, in what's now the Tempest/the Indigo Deep. We know it's not just an illusion slapped down anywhere Emet wanted, since Anamnesis Anyder is somewhere near there too. It's hard to say tectonically what happened to put that area underwater after the Sundering (reasonably we can't blame any Calamities, since it's also there in the First), but it was probably a sea-level region near mountains that became Vylbrand/Kholusia; something like Tokyo, probably. Notably, we don't know how far Amaurot stretched, though; it's likely considerably bigger than any city we've actually been to, but beyond that we've got no ideas.

Elpis we've got nothing even resembling a clue, since we can't even see the ground, and we have no indication of how close it is to the one other location we've got. It could be over the Drown, up near present-day Garlemald, or literally just two miles down the highway from Amaurot. Personally I'd wager it's not tremendously far away from Amaurot, as there's no language to suggest that it's prohibitively far (which feels like something Emet would've complained about), but at the same time, it's also far enough away that Emet and Hyth are staying there for the night rather than going home. Of course where that line is kinda depends on Ancient travel techniques and average speeds, which we don't have any useful information on, but it does reasonably mean that if Amaurot's in the Indigo Deep, Elpis probably wasn't just at O'Ghomoro.

I'm gonna say Elpis is in... let's say Xelphatol. 'Floating islands' generally seems to translate to 'skies above a mountainous region' in this game, and from there, well, I just think there'd be some interesting poetic irony if the modern day site of Elpis is home to one of the only species on the Source that doesn't trace back to the place.

If I remember right, you can make out some details of the former geography of the planet from space during the Amaurot duty. My conclusion at the time was that it looked like Vylbrand used to be much larger, and was a peninsula rather than an island.

It's hard to say if this was remotely the writers intentions at the time - they have explicitly said Amaurot in its current form wasn't conceived yet, but they could have had some idea of it - but in Encyclopedia Eorzea I, it's mentioned that the road running through Eastern La Noscea was "already old in the days of ancient Allag". If you look at the environment, the road passes under a series of stone archways that are a little too perfect to be natural and resemble the ones you see in the upper parts of The Tempest.

The entire map has really weird geology (I'd encourage you to fly up high and look around the bloodshore area specifically), so I'd hypothesize the whole area was urbanized, and the entire region around Amaurot was probably relatively developed.

As for Elpis, you can look down on a clear day and see that it's probably over the ocean, unless those are some extremely blue clouds actually I looked again and I probably just judged it as a bad time of day before, since the void below does seem like it's meant to be cloud cover after all. Still, the only guess we can make as to its location is that if Pandaemonium reappeared in the same place it was originally, that would put it in the skies over what would become Sharlayan; I'd take that further and say the island chain was probably formed by Elpis dropping out of the sky if so, since the surrounding ocean is so empty otherwise. But we won't know for sure until the final part of the raid comes out and we learn what's actually going on.

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Originally Posted by RyuDragnier

If we go under the knowledge that the various calamities have moved everything around, and that the area under steep cliffs of Kholusia are actually the water UNDER Limsa Lominsa on the source (remember, there was a great flood and water levels rose), then it's likely Amaurot was a good ways away off the coast of La Noscea.

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I don't think those cliffs are underwater - Western and Middle La Noscea are dominated by sharp cliffs leading increasingly upwards on the approach to Mt. Ghomoro. They're just more broken up than the single one dividing the approach to Mt. Gulg.

The waters of the Sixth Umbral Calamity receded after it was over. That's how you have stuff like the boat just hanging around on the mountains in Gyr Abania, and the ruins of destroyed places like Mhach and Amdapor now at ground level again.

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Originally Posted by Lurina

I don't think those cliffs are underwater - Western and Middle La Noscea are dominated by sharp cliffs leading increasingly upwards on the approach to Mt. Ghomoro. They're just more broken up than the single one dividing the approach to Mt. Gulg.

The waters of the Sixth Umbral Calamity receded after it was over. That's how you have stuff like the boat just hanging around on the mountains in Gyr Abania, and the ruins of destroyed places like Mhach and Amdapor now at ground level again.

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Thanks for reminding me, I completely spaced that the waters had receded.

I thought they hinted that Elpis was in a small pocket dimension. Amaurot is definitely somewhere down in the sea off the western coast of Vylbrand. If Elpis wasn't put into its own pocket then I'd guess it'd be something like Azys La where it's fairly high in the sky. Not sure how they'd allow for any winged not ready to be released creations to be studied if they could easily fly away to the rest of the world.

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Originally Posted by SannaR

I thought they hinted that Elpis was in a small pocket dimension. Amaurot is definitely somewhere down in the sea off the western coast of Vylbrand. If Elpis wasn't put into its own pocket then I'd guess it'd be something like Azys La where it's fairly high in the sky. Not sure how they'd allow for any winged not ready to be released creations to be studied if they could easily fly away to the rest of the world.

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I'd really like to hear where you think that 'hint' was, because that seems highly unlikely. Especially given we know that Pandaemonium is under it, and we went above it in Ktisis Hyperborea to the point where we could see the curvature of the planet.

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Originally Posted by Cleretic

I'd really like to hear where you think that 'hint' was, because that seems highly unlikely. Especially given we know that Pandaemonium is under it, and we went above it in Ktisis Hyperborea to the point where we could see the curvature of the planet.

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I want to say it's about when we learn about Kitis or are about to enter it. That the inside of Kitis isn't the only place like it where there's a sort of Tardis type thing going on where it's much bigger on the inside. If not there then maybe when Hythlodaeus is first explaining what Elpis is and how it exists. I know we can see the curvature of the planet yet we're also technically still within Kitis when that's all happening otherwise why need to punch a hole to the outside of the building in order to escape the memory alteration?

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Originally Posted by SannaR

I want to say it's about when we learn about Kitis or are about to enter it. That the inside of Kitis isn't the only place like it where there's a sort of Tardis type thing going on where it's much bigger on the inside.

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I've just been through those quests on an alt, and it's the document archives that are "magically bigger on the inside" like Ktisis. No mention of Elpis as a whole being in a pocket dimension.

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Originally Posted by Iscah

I've just been through those quests on an alt, and it's the document archives that are "magically bigger on the inside" like Ktisis. No mention of Elpis as a whole being in a pocket dimension.

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Ahh ok. I knew it was something that was also the same way Kitis is on the inside. So Elpis is definitely more like Azys La then. Which means it could be anywhere. Though we still don't know what the floating island chunks are on the map above Garlemald is. Yet instead of the use of primals in stasis its floating just from sheer magics, right? Ugh I think this is another topic where it sort of is probably best not to think too hard about it. Cause otherwise my brain is going to try and make sense as to where the water that makes up the waters of Lythe comes from as it just falls over the side and dissappears into nothingness. Then there's the weather control areas and again the whole testing of flying concepts.

I believe it's mentioned wind-aspected crystals are capable of levitating and thus landscapes like the Sea of Clouds and the Diadem are able to naturally exist in regions with high levels of wind aether.

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Originally Posted by SannaR

Though we still don't know what the floating island chunks are on the map above Garlemald is. Yet instead of the use of primals in stasis its floating just from sheer magics, right?

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I don't think it's worth focusing too much on the floating islands. They could be anything from an arbitrary map decoration to a common hazard of free-drifting floating islands that have come loose from the Sea of Clouds. (I'm not really sure how they're supposed to stay neatly arranged in one place if they naturally float and aren't tethered to anything.)

As for Elpis, there's a specific quote on that which I took note of – from the quest Lives Apart:

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HERMES
Although we call this structure a beacon due to its form, it's in fact a magical device. By manipulating the balance of elements, it keeps the isle airborne and maintains the climate thereupon.

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There might have been a second mention somewhere later, but I got distracted away from checking my notes for it, and now I don't have them on hand.