Tales Under the New Moon Story #1: In Storm's Wake

Well, we've got a story about a more presently relevant subject! I think someone wanted that.

https://na.finalfantasyxiv.com/10th_.../#sidestory_03

Pretty close to the same sort of framing device as the last two conceptually, it is still 'a Scion reminisces about something that was somehow important to their past', it's just about a place, not a person, and spends more time in the present.

I like hearing form Hien again, he's a relatively charming guy that doesn't get much spotlight! And a bit more understanding of what the situation is over in Corvos/Locus Amoenus is very welcome. I like the recognition of timeframes compared to Doma, Ala Mhigo and Corvos; if it's been so long under occupation that basically nobody alive remembers life before it, what does a nation even do when they're liberated? Sure, Ala Mhigo (and the in-similar-situations Bozja) didn't return to how they were, but they did have the cultural memory to know what they had and why it didn't work. I'm sure there was a Corvos resistance/liberation front, but even their view on their problem likely varies greatly compared to Ala Mhigo's because of that.

Enjoyed that little story, and nice to see that Gra'ha still occasionally lets a bit of 'Exarch' slip out - and also enjoyed that Hien noticed despite likely having no insight into why (Gra'ha) might slip into sounding like, as he called it, a wise sage.

As said in another thread though, I'll admit that the references to the Scions in the present tense did irk me a little since the official position is that they're supposed to be disbanded.

Somewhat interesting, though it confirms that the writers have already forgotten that the Scions are disbanded on the world stage as Carin-Eri pointed out. Oh FFXIV writing, will you ever get good again?

This framing of Corvos is a bit bizarre to me though. "Originally" an Allagan province, filled with foreign Miqote slaves to till the land, they still haven't told us when the Garleans got there? Were they the ones subjugated by the Allagans? Would that not make them the original, "Corvosi?" I suppose this makes it make sense as to why they struck the name Corvos from the record, since that would be a name given to the land by the foreign Miqote slaves after their successful revolt.

Also it's a bit droll all of the references to time and the tides of time being unstoppable when the story's from the PoV of a guy who literally broke time in the setting by time traveling to rewrite/unwrite history.

What is this fixation on having G'raha Tia eat though? Even in this short story we get him carted off to a meal at the end, and then the shot of him and Hien eating rice balls. It was cute once, but it's already overdone.

Mildly interesting reveal to Hien's exact age, and a bit funny that G'raha thinks of himself as being that age in spite of him actually being like, what, 326 really?


All in all I'm a bit disappointed in this one. They finally stop going for memberberries, and they muck it up. Does not inspire faith. Though I do wonder what 4th story will be. Maybe 4th story will inspire faith.

We actually already knew Hien's age: his Bozja field notes listed him as 24. That put directly adjacent to Doma's history of occupation is interesting, because like Fordola, he was born just shortly after the occupation; neither was alive when their nation was last free, but Hien had people to tell them what it was like, while Fordola didn't.

And I really don't think the situation with the Scions is that difficult to grasp, I really think you're just being obstinate. The Scions were disbanded as an organization because now that the Ascian and primal problems were gone, they didn't have a reason to exist, and the group thought it better to disband it than to let it be repurposed; fair enough, given that everyone in that room that's not Estinien or G'raha remembers the Crystal Braves debacle. Better to let the organization die than risk it being corrupted. But that doesn't mean that they stop being 'Scions' as individuals, or as a collective group, because that's a name that carries connotations of certain allegiances and trustworthiness. Hien called Thancred because that reputation was one he could rely on--and Thancred called in G'raha because he shares that reputation and trustworthiness. G'raha calling himself 'the newest Scion' is a bit odd, but that's more a quirk of imperfect language; it's the closest succinct description of who he is in relation to the group Hien knows. 'The last Scion to join before the Scions disbanded' might be more accurate, but is kinda ugly. We know the group of people we're talking about when we say 'the Scions'; given that group has no other name, what else are we gonna call them?

It's like a sports team disbanding; just because the organization is no more, doesn't make the name mean nothing. If the Chicago Bulls shut up shop, we'd all still call Michael Jordan a Bull and agree who ruled the NBA in the 90s. (Incidentally, sports team/player metaphors are VERY hard to come up with in an environment where you can't guarantee anyone in the room knows crap about sports.) Eventually, a new name would be welcome and a good idea, but right now? G'raha's a Scion to himself and to Hien.

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Originally Posted by Vyrerus

This framing of Corvos is a bit bizarre to me though. "Originally" an Allagan province, filled with foreign Miqote slaves to till the land, they still haven't told us when the Garleans got there? Were they the ones subjugated by the Allagans? Would that not make them the original, "Corvosi?" I suppose this makes it make sense as to why they struck the name Corvos from the record, since that would be a name given to the land by the foreign Miqote slaves after their successful revolt.

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We already know that the Garleans came sometime later because Goug was a city populated by a tribe of proto-Garleans during the Ivalice days, so it stands to reason that they went to nearby Southern Ilsabard as refugees after their city blew up.

Fourchenault even says that the Garlean idea of being the original inhabitants is a lie and I’d trust the Sharlayan narrative over the Garlean one that has been twisted by an Ascian to promote nationalism and justify conquest.

My mistake - apologies.

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Originally Posted by Carin-Eri

My mistake - apologies.

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No problem, you kicked into motion something beautiful. I love these weird little moments.

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Originally Posted by Eisi

No problem, you kicked into motion something beautiful. I love these weird little moments.

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I'd feel better about it if it weren't a byproduct of my misreading the paragraph(s) in question! I feel like a total dumbass!

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Originally Posted by Carin-Eri

I'd feel better about it if it weren't a byproduct of my misreading the paragraph(s) in question! I feel like a total dumbass!

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In my mind - and I'm definitely reading too much into this - but in my mind you might have helped both Vyrerus and Cleretic to come to terms with the fact that they both have pretty strong preconceived notions about the story.

Edit: DAMN. They still do! They still do!

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Originally Posted by Eisi

That's right. The passage referred to a time when the Scions still existed. The two above quotations are the first words being spoken between Hien and G'raha in the current time.

The failure of the writing here is a mixup in tenses, they should have used past perfect (he had endeavored to seperate the man from the myth) rather than simple past. And it's obvious if you actually read the text.

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I would appreciate you not being so smug about this. Partly because it comes off really rude, but also because, while yes, that line does exist and is correct in the sense you described, so do these lines directly afterwards:

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The young lord gestured for G'raha to sit, and he gratefully obliged, curious to hear what his host had to say. As Hien explained it, the seeds of change had begun to quicken in Garlemald, and Radz-at-Han, having reopened trade with the ravaged nation, was now organizing a summit between the leaders of the resurgent Garlean community and the dignitaries of various surrounding countries. And, lest he further strain relations between Doma and Garlemald, Hien wished to gain insight into the Empire's present state. The acting viceroy of Locus Amoenus─or Corvos, as it had formerly been known─would be in attendance, and intelligence regarding the province was therefore of particular interest.

Recalling that Thancred had infiltrated Locus Amoenus during the Final Days, and trusting none more than the Scions to keep an accurate account of events in the midst of such chaos, Hien had reached out to the grizzled rogue for any information he might care to disclose.

"Imagine my surprise when he told me there was another Scion better suited to the task─one who not only joined him on the mission, but hailed from Corvos besides."

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If you need help with the timeline, that trade reopening with Garlemald and Radz-at-Han was in 6.4.

So yes, G'raha is shown to describe himself as a Scion when they were still an extant organization. But Hien and the off-screen Thancred are describing the Scions after their disbanding, in their current state as just a name with meaning. Carin-Eri and Vyrerus are responding to something within the text of the story, even if it's not true of that one line you highlighted.

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Originally Posted by Cleretic

I would appreciate you not being so smug about this. Partly because it comes off really rude, but also because, while yes, that line does exist and is correct in the sense you described, so do these lines directly afterwards:

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I am enjoying myself, I would hope you do too when you're smug like this:

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Originally Posted by Cleretic

And I really don't think the situation with the Scions is that difficult to grasp, I really think you're just being obstinate.

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Originally Posted by Cleretic

If you need help with the timeline, that trade reopening with Garlemald and Radz-at-Han was in 6.4.

So yes, G'raha is shown to describe himself as a Scion when they were still an extant organization. But Hien and the off-screen Thancred are describing the Scions after their disbanding, in their current state as just a name with meaning. Carin-Eri and Vyrerus are responding to something within the text of the story, even if it's not true of that one line you highlighted.

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That's very sweet and not smug at all that you offer help with the timeline, but once again the text doesn't refer to the Scions with respect to the infiltration of Locus Amoenus during the Final Days.

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Recalling that Thancred had infiltrated Locus Amoenus during the Final Days, and trusting none more than the Scions to keep an accurate account of events in the midst of such chaos, Hien had reached out to the grizzled rogue for any information he might care to disclose.

"Imagine my surprise when he told me there was another Scion better suited to the task─one who not only joined him on the mission, but hailed from Corvos besides."

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Bold Quote is you being right tho, damn! Ok you're right, that's something Thancred said in the present time. Or something Hien interpreted, showing G'raha with a tiny lil slip-up that he knows the Scions are still active.

Should have read the whole text rather than just the part that Carin-Eri quoted in an entirely different thread!

Enjoyed that running gag of G'raha the foodie is continuing, the Exarch bleeding through, and most of all how this was a clever way to bring back one of Stormblood's core themes of imperial oppression trying to subjugate and erase the cultures of the countries that they conquered and how the generations that grew up under the occupation have to grab with the the forced creolization. And like everything with Doma, the Japanese occupation of Korea and their efforts to replace the Korean culture lingers in the back of my mind like a ghost right next to the US Post-war occupation of Japan. Yet again the origins of the Garleans is left vague but once more stressing that they aren't the original people of Corvos - but their national myth that Emet weaponized hinged on it.

It's nice to get more snippets of Corvos lore, as we likely won't be back there for some time. The reference to Allag and the forced relocation of conquered peoples likely indicates that no one faction can claim 'true' ancestry to the region for themselves.

It's curious that the Garleans under Emet's leadership weren't satisfied with taking the land and brutally subjugating the people as they did with so many other nations, and instead tried to deliberately and systematically erase all traces of Corvosi heritage and culture from the history books. So much for 'Remember that we once lived.'

I think the many food references that we've seen across 6.x are actually nod to forum culture. I'm sure that somewhere out there, the writers are chuckling over the reactions.

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Originally Posted by Cleretic

Well, we've got a story about a more presently relevant subject! I think someone wanted that.

https://na.finalfantasyxiv.com/10th_.../#sidestory_03

Pretty close to the same sort of framing device as the last two conceptually, it is still 'a Scion reminisces about something that was somehow important to their past', it's just about a place, not a person, and spends more time in the present.

I like hearing form Hien again, he's a relatively charming guy that doesn't get much spotlight! And a bit more understanding of what the situation is over in Corvos/Locus Amoenus is very welcome. I like the recognition of timeframes compared to Doma, Ala Mhigo and Corvos; if it's been so long under occupation that basically nobody alive remembers life before it, what does a nation even do when they're liberated? Sure, Ala Mhigo (and the in-similar-situations Bozja) didn't return to how they were, but they did have the cultural memory to know what they had and why it didn't work. I'm sure there was a Corvos resistance/liberation front, but even their view on their problem likely varies greatly compared to Ala Mhigo's because of that.

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I mean, it's only been 20 and 25 years for each. It just hasn't been that long to be talking about that kind of thing. Unless the Garleans went around and killed all the adults. 50 years isn't that long either, there plenty of real world examples of people not losing their cultures even after centuries of oppression. Though I did like the touch of bringing up what living with your oppressors can do.

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Originally Posted by Lyth

It's curious that the Garleans under Emet's leadership weren't satisfied with taking the land and brutally subjugating the people as they did with so many other nations, and instead tried to deliberately and systematically erase all traces of Corvosi heritage and culture from the history books. So much for 'Remember that we once lived.'

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Yeah, there's always been that air of hypocrisy about that line; the Ascians' Calamities have stomped out an enormous amount of societies to the point of them being unable to be properly remembered. I once counted the ones we have names for and I think we're into the low teens. And yet despite that, Emet is so insistent that his people get a different treatment. That's not to say Amaurot doesn't deserve it, but where's anyone standing up for Skalla in the same way?

That said, the Garlean approach is very much from the 'totalitarian empire' playbook; subsume the parts of the local culture that fit your ideals, stamp out the rest, and eventually let its identity just become 'part of the Empire'.

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Originally Posted by thegreatonemal

I mean, it's only been 20 and 25 years for each. It just hasn't been that long to be talking about that kind of thing. Unless the Garleans went around and killed all the adults. 50 years isn't that long either, there plenty of real world examples of people not losing their cultures even after centuries of oppression. Though I did like the touch of bringing up what living with your oppressors can do.

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I'd say fifty years is a pretty long amount of time in this context; an adult at the time of conquering would be in their seventies at the youngest, and this isn't a world with a great amount of healthcare (not to mention the fact that Garleans are rarely the kindest to their occupied people). After fifty years of constant stamping out of the local identity, pre-occupation Corvosi culture would've started to fade into the realm of the wistful grandparents' tales of childhood. If they don't have a lot of respected elders, then they've definitely lost a lot of passed-down culture that wouldn't have been in the history books--which themselves wouldn't be trustworthy after fifty years of occupation.

Yay more Corvos and Hien attention. It is nice to see things slowly moving along with other sections of Garlean held territory. It would have been nice if we had gotten word about this meeting going to happen in game. Of course we could still get a small mention of it in 6.5 or 6.55. As to the not remembering one's culture what is portrayed in the story makes sense time wise. As all you have to do to hasten it is to outlaw practices or the use of things. If not severely punish anyone who tries to cling to their culture prior to occupation.

I feel like this veered close to stuff I wanted to get, but didn't go there.

Of all the things to get out of G'raha in a series of stories reminiscing on past events, historical basics on Corvos feels like a waste compared to the other possibilities – stories of the post-Calamity world, or the Crystarium, or more specifically about the G tribe.

The idea of history remembering peoples rather than nations is an interesting one, though.

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Originally Posted by Cleretic

Yeah, there's always been that air of hypocrisy about that line; the Ascians' Calamities have stomped out an enormous amount of societies to the point of them being unable to be properly remembered. I once counted the ones we have names for and I think we're into the low teens. And yet despite that, Emet is so insistent that his people get a different treatment. That's not to say Amaurot doesn't deserve it, but where's anyone standing up for Skalla in the same way?

That said, the Garlean approach is very much from the 'totalitarian empire' playbook; subsume the parts of the local culture that fit your ideals, stamp out the rest, and eventually let its identity just become 'part of the Empire'.



I'd say fifty years is a pretty long amount of time in this context; an adult at the time of conquering would be in their seventies at the youngest, and this isn't a world with a great amount of healthcare (not to mention the fact that Garleans are rarely the kindest to their occupied people). After fifty years of constant stamping out of the local identity, pre-occupation Corvosi culture would've started to fade into the realm of the wistful grandparents' tales of childhood. If they don't have a lot of respected elders, then they've definitely lost a lot of passed-down culture that wouldn't have been in the history books--which themselves wouldn't be trustworthy after fifty years of occupation.

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Not even in this context as what garleans did is along the same vein that European powers did in Africa, South America, East Asia, the United States the list goes on. Besides there was a resistance force in Corvous. Unless that force was made up of mostly senior citizens clearly they just didn't roll over.

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Originally Posted by Iscah

I feel like this veered close to stuff I wanted to get, but didn't go there.

Of all the things to get out of G'raha in a series of stories reminiscing on past events, historical basics on Corvos feels like a waste compared to the other possibilities – stories of the post-Calamity world, or the Crystarium, or more specifically about the G tribe.

The idea of history remembering peoples rather than nations is an interesting one, though.

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It did imply that Hien was important and featured in post-rose stories in the 8UC world. I too wish they'd actually given us a sentence or two saying what he did. though.

Still, love this story. Corvos intrigues me, the fallout from Garlemald's fall intrigues me, I like Hien and love G'raha and them being buds is great. :) I'm happy with this one.


Also, Eisi, could you take the aggression to PVP or something? It seems unprovoked and vaguely unhinged.