Tales under the New Moon #5: Whispers from the Dark

Surprise new short story:
https://na.finalfantasyxiv.com/10th_.../sidestory_05/

Strange that this came post-Rising rather than during.

Nice Lahabrea Gaius interactions, interesting to see that his happened so close the the time of the Battle of Cartenau. And insight to Lahabrea's state of mind....

Based on the name of this set of stories, I'm thinking this ties into EW and everything preceeding it, rather than DT (has DT's storyline been that polarizing?).

Either way, it's interesting to see

what really made Lahabrea tick, as well as fill in a few remaining plot threads about Gaius and the Ultima Weapon dating back to ARR, and it was kind of fitting in a way at his discomfort being tortured by lingering memories of Athena and Eric - karma for his part in the events of Pandaemonium.

Great, more Heart of Sabik stuff for my Auracite brain worms to chew on.

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Originally Posted by Enkidoh

Based on the name of this set of stories, I'm thinking this ties into EW and everything preceeding it, rather than DT (has DT's storyline been that polarizing?).

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I suspect it might be set up to give Dawtrail itself room to breathe and set itself up. Make the cracks that short stories fit between. I really hope it's not cowardly going back to the familiar, but that'd be an unusual thing given how brave and weird 7.1 was.

And this story... well, I liked it more than I expected when I realized what it was gonna be about.

The surefire way to get me to switch off of a story is Ancient stuff, but this is maybe the first story about an Ascian since Shadowbringers that's not 'Ancient stuff'. I feel like this is more a Gaius story than it is a Lahabrea one, too, despite the choice of narrator, and it's much better for it. Gaius' relationship with Lahabrea was always sort of taken as a given and never really explored, but I like the suspicion here; that Gaius can tell that nothing here lines up, and Lahabrea's nowhere near reliable, even if he can't do anything about it right now. It makes the events at the Praetorium play differently in a way I like; that while the exact sequence of events blindsided Gaius, the fact Lahabrea pulled something like this didn't, and the doubts that led to his turn as the Shadowhunter started well before we expected.

My baseless guess is that the stories were intended to be released during the Rising, but got delayed, and that July -> August might not have been enough comfort zone to be releasing stories set in Tural. Please look forward to next year? lol.

In the meantime, the topic of this one was a solid idea to go back for considering hells yeah Black Wolf we never touched much on the background of this part.

Lahabrea needling Gaius's resentment at the coming order to set up castra in Eorzea only to hide behind their walls and wait.

Frumentarium mentioned.

Black Masks mentioned.

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Lahabrea
I entrust it to you, and no other. That this star might know the peace it once enjoyed...

Gaius van Baelsar
Your hopes for the star do not concern me, Ascian.

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That is a killer interaction. Lahabrea pulling out a CLASSIC Ascian "I'm telling the truth but intend for you to misinterpret it" double-speak that Gaius should -- perhaps maybe even would -- have questioned if only his reply wasn't an honest reflection of state of mind at the time.

Gaius's loyalty to the Emperor, never addressed in his going rogue, here connected to "Solus's" foundational orders, not only mentioned, but used against him to inspire the act.

Recall that - in retrospect (we, and Square Enix at the time, probably, did not yet know the full state of the Empire's personalities and politics), Gaius's going rogue despite his loyalty to Solus perhaps makes more sense than it once did.

Gaius was willing to go act against immediate orders to serve earlier, higher-priority orders even in 1.0. As soon as Gaius detected Nael was deceiving Solus, he orchestrated his downfall at the hands of the Eorzean Alliance.

Impatience to conquer Eorzea and selfish ambition felt, to me, an insufficient explanation for that being the time and place he cashed out his loyalty.

But in retrospect - the Emperor bedridden and unable to rule, Varis coming to power, a conflict brewing between the Optimates and the Populares - Gaius was damned to lose regardless of who won. The Optimates didn't rule with Gaius's values - the strong had no obligation to rule the weak as (their idea of) benevolent patrons (unless they resisted in which case they were on the side of chaos and to be destroyed). The Opimates calling the shots in Eorzea would be disastrous, from his perspective. But the Populares would forsake their sacred charge to protect the star from the blight of the eikons entirely.

Perhaps he felt it was his only option to reclaim his strength and influence and restore his legacy, and that desperation set the stage for his successive moments of weakness - defiance, vanity, arrogance to the point of blindness in being taken in by a ruse he by all rights should have seen through.

Gaius and Lahabrea both being done in by arrogance leading to blindness and their own machinations destroying them is aces.

Lahabrea's "saturday morning cartoon" villain-ness addressed and connected to his own fading memories.

Lahabrea having a moment of reservation about Sabik and memories of his family trying to surface, all rejected in the name of loyalty to Zodiark and commitment to duty.

That was a pleasant surprise right from opening the Lodestone to the end.

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Originally Posted by mallleable

Great, more Heart of Sabik stuff for my Auracite brain worms to chew on.

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It was a solid five minutes after I had accepted, "perhaps the stories were delayed; perhaps we're giving it a year before doing Tural stories" before I considered connections to Ultima Prime Theory and perhaps subtle laying of foundations for it...but I'm with you, if for nothing but love of the game when it comes to conspiracy half-jokes that might pan out to come true.

It's pretty remarkable how much this goes back to the style of speech that Gaius and Lahabrea both used in 2.0. From a craft perspective, that feels like it's a challenging part of the work on its own.

The thing that's got me curious isn't the story itself as much as it's just the decision to shift story drops and the complete silence about WHY.

Oh man what a treat out of the blue like this. I know this story was about Gaius and Lahabrea, but no wonder Emet-Selch sort of seethed at the other two unsundered.

As sure they both were loyal to the rejoinings, freeing Zodiark and restoring of how the world was prior to the final days. Yet Emet looks to be the only one that felt that keeping the memories of those they cared for wasn't only important but a necessary thing to do. I wonder if part of the reason why those memories were messing with Lahabreha were due to having a part of Athena in the Heart of Sabik? Was her influence the sole cause for him remembering even if foggy his family? Or did it just make those memories stronger and last longer?

It's interesting that the story claims that his creative juices petered out to the point where he really was sure, that'll do when he woke up the dragon we fought in Dusk Vigil while Cid and Alphinaud worked on the Enterprise. I do wonder if he still had mental flashes of Athena, Erichtonios or remembeed that Igeyorhm and he were cousins after turning the heart over to Giaus.

It is nice to know those two's relationship was always like that. I'm glad that they told us we would be getting more of these over the course of December.

That... wasn't great.

I mean, I really liked how they showed Lahabrea subtly manipulating Gaius against the Emperor and how he actually managed to get inside his head. ARR didn't really elaborate much on their alliance and what led to it, which made the whole thing feel a little flat and empty, so that was a welcome inclusion. It felt a little old school too, which was nice.

...but again, it's more of the same in terms of watering down more morally questionable beloved characters and overemphasising their terrible backstory for fear of making them too perceivably "evil" and potentially risk the playerbase turning against them. I've always hated Gaius' redemption as an all-loving, kindly lizard dad who embraced everyone of all creeds to awkwardly paint over his hyper-imperialist past, I've never found it to really work and it's a very clumsy and poorly-implemented contradiction to everything he's been shown to have been previously. The line about the orphans pretty much embodies what I'm talking about, and the lack of subtlety that goes into the way they try to rework characters to make them more likeable. There's a middle ground between "dastardly imperial conqueror" and "veritable saint saving freezing children from the snow."

And Lahabrea's vague recollection of his family was just another, weaker rehash of Ere Our Curtain Falls mixed with a bit of Through His Eyes and the problems plaguing the other two of the Original Three, and I just don't think it needed to be done again. The guy's been off his rocker for over several thousand years at this juncture, we really don't need another swan song about how he was once a good guy, deep, deep, deep down. Something post-Final Days/ Sundering that examined his relationship with his son or Athena or the point that triggered him to really decide to jump off the deep end would have been a better choice, I feel. I get they tried connecting present day (past day?) Lahabrea to Pandaemonium Lahabrea, but it felt awkward and kind of laboured and done more to please the fans than in consideration of what might actually make sense. Which it probably will, I guess. I just miss when I used to get more insight into the story and the characters from these side bits instead of wading through another half-hearted attempt to dredge up an emotional reaction I could see coming a mile away to get a bit of interesting lore.

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Originally Posted by SannaR

I wonder if part of the reason why those memories were messing with him were due to having a part of Athena in the Heart of Sabik? Was her influence the sole cause for him remembering even if foggy his family? Or did it just make those memories stronger and last longer?

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I'm tempted to explore aetherometaphysical theories associated with auracite/Sabik as a (then) receptacle of Athena's memory and crystalline accelerator one's desires / ambitions...but for the moment I'm think I'm focused more on a simple connection to Lahabrea's sentiments in Pandaemonium.

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Lahabrea
These Ascians─or “Paragons,” I'm told─were ruthless in their schemes to rejoin the sundered worlds.

I have heard but a small number of their deeds, and still I find it difficult to comprehend the depths to which they were willing to sink.

To choose a path of evil, all for the sake of the star...

...I admit, 'tis a decision I would make under the right circumstances.

Although the ages may take their toll, my devotion to my duty will never waver.

Paying no heed to what might be lost, I will treat the Heart of Sabik as a mere tool for my own ends.

Never caring to look beyond the surface, I will unleash forces that I fail to truly comprehend...and remain blissfully ignorant of my hypocrisy all the while.

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I think here maybe we see him on the other side of the looking glass - the moment he decides to reject the memories trying to resurface; refuse to consider them a sign that maybe he should look beyond the surface and Sabik as more than a mere tool. On this side of the mirror, he chides himself for this "moment of weakness" because - after the long years and all they have taken from him - nothing matters but his comrades, his goal, his duty, and his god.

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Originally Posted by Lunaxia

again, it's more of the same in terms of watering down more morally questionable beloved characters

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Tbh, I actually am rather surprised that they rarely mention the other side of that coin. It doesn't both me so much, because I know it's there, but I think it's worth calling attention to in prose sometimes, too. We don't have to harp on it, just acknowledge the canonical context.

My appreciation for Gaius comes from a place of how uncomfortable it is to consider him. He really was his idea of benevolent/meritocratic, he really was his idea of just, he really was his idea of virtuous. What makes him interesting is that despite his antagonistic role, he often lived up to his own ideals early on - he truly believed the strong had a responsibility to lead the way, protect the planet, and rule the weak well. He also took it for granted that nobody else's perspective had merit, and if you went against his perspective you were either misguided and in need of a strong hand or an enemy of order to be ruthlessly exterminated. Why not continue to call attention to that second part every now and then when mentioning his "praiseworthy" qualities? lol

Again, it doesn't bother me so much, because I understand Gaius to be on more of an arc of atonement than redemption, in my eyes. I think he recognizes how myopic he was and wants to make amends for it, but doesn't give a damn whether anyone else thinks that "redeems" him. But I'd agree that we tend to gloss over the caveats perhaps too much too soon.

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Originally Posted by Lunaxia

That... wasn't great.

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In terms of trying to take aspects of what we learned about Lahabrea in Pandaemonium (as well as what we learned about Gaius in Sorrow of Werlyt) and importing it back into the pre-Praetorium context, I think the PROJECT of the story was sound. It's trying instill a sense of consistency in stuff that was written under drastically different circumstances by (probably) different creative teams with (probably again) different creative visions guiding their designs.

Which isn't to give the story an excuse for... well...

Consider if the story of FF14 was written as a film or TV show, and delivered in sequence, instead of being a game. This scene feels like one that was filmed, but then removed in the edit because it didn't add anything that wasn't delivered in other scenes (in this case, Gaius and Lahabrea's interactions in the Praetorium). That's not to say the scene is objectively bad (everyone's going to have their opinions, obviously) but it IS extraneous, and the key thing that it tries to add is that connective tissue to Pandaemonium, which by the very nature of that material can only be hinted at. So it really struggles to exist on its own as an individual artifact of an overarching story that's being created post-hoc.

To be clear, I'm not trying to convince you to LIKE it. Only trying to add dimension to why it exists.

It's fine. I don't believe in the nonsense idea that giving context and motivation to villains is "watering them down" or anything like that. But am I the only one who hates the way these stories are written? They're just so... translation-ese.

Enjoyable read, a shame it brought us nothing we didn't already know. Definitely feels like a teaser for Heart of Sabik, as the writing team has tried nothing and they're all outta ideas, man!(kudos if you get the reference)

Only issue at this point is the same issue that has been. Black Auracite: Sabik is now(has been) tied to an alien, extradimensional entity. Which makes Lahabrea's cackling about, "A sliver of my god's power!" with regards to Ultima not make sense.

It might be interesting, what comes of this swirling skein, but it's just as likely to be what they can manage with limited time and staff. I don't feel excited.

Loved this! What a treat to get new Gaius and Lahabrea content in the year 2024... nice bits of characterisation, for them both. It's nice to have that thematic "handing off" for the Heart of Sabik between it's Pandaemonium-related stint, and into it's Weapons-related era.

I think it had a good enough balance of highlighting Gaius's "good" intentions, while sticking to his character theme of "good intentions do not mean good results". The traits they mentioned were mentioned during ARR, so I wouldn't say they were new, even if they do get mentioned a little more post-ARR... Moose put it well, that this dichotomy is meant to make Gaius an uncomfortable character, whether you enjoy the execution of it or not. The line about "had he belonged to a more religious nation, he would surely have been destined for sainthood” is so beautifully facetious.

Also liked the clarification on Lahabrea's memories - he didn't have a hard reason to have forgotten anything before now, unlike Emet-Selch and Elidibus did. Neat to see it solidified that the years just really did get to him, vague glimpses and feelings aside.

I'm just very happy to see these two get some content! :') It can feel bittersweet when the characters you like stop being relevant, especially when they're not the fan favourites, but today I got some food.

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Originally Posted by PorxiesRCute

They're just so... translation-ese.

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Well... that's because they are. And if they weren't, you know the anti-localization brigade would be up in arms about their own poor reading comprehension, as always, were they ever to discover it was anything less than a direct Google translation.

I'm being a little glib, obviously, but I do think this is done at least partially for clarity of intent. Localizing prose is arguably a more delicate process than localizing a script, since the entire story is in the text, with little to no other context to assist -- like fully animated cutscenes.

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Originally Posted by Anonymoose

It was a solid five minutes after I had accepted, "perhaps the stories were delayed; perhaps we're giving it a year before doing Tural stories" before I considered connections to Ultima Prime Theory and perhaps subtle laying of foundations for it...but I'm with you, if for nothing but love of the game when it comes to conspiracy half-jokes that might pan out to come true.

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Talk more about this Ultima Prime Theory; I'm a little new here, but between Pandaemonium and Ultima's role in FF16 I think there's more to this concept than just an opportunity for memes.

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Originally Posted by unlimitedBLACK

Talk more about this Ultima Prime Theory; I'm a little new here, but between Pandaemonium and Ultima's role in FF16 I think there's more to this concept than just an opportunity for memes.

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Moose's Ultima Prime theories might be different than mine, but I think they hinge on the fact Auracite, and Ultima The High Seraph do not originate from Etheirys, and even predate the sundering from what we know from the Pandaemonium, and Return to Ivalice raid series. So we have this potential cosmic threat set up for us that has 'always been there' Kinda like the Ascians, and could lead to something like a level 140 Ultima MSQ trial much much later.

How my mind has been cooked is that I think the Dimensional Key is another Auracite or a piece of some kind of Auracite based weapon, and that the reason why it had Azem's symbol on it is because one the Azems encountered it, and had to put a protective seal on it ages ago be it Venat, The Last Azem or the Azem before Venat. The idea is that Auracite/Ultima have been a thorn in the side of every Azem, and now it's the Warrior of Light's turn to take on that burden, and finish the job.

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Originally Posted by Anonymoose

My appreciation for Gaius comes from a place of how uncomfortable it is to consider him. He really was his idea of benevolent/meritocratic, he really was his idea of just, he really was his idea of virtuous. What makes him interesting is that despite his antagonistic role, he often lived up to his own ideals early on - he truly believed the strong had a responsibility to lead the way, protect the planet, and rule the weak well. He also took it for granted that nobody else's perspective had merit, and if you went against his perspective you were either misguided and in need of a strong hand or an enemy of order to be ruthlessly exterminated. Why not continue to call attention to that second part every now and then when mentioning his "praiseworthy" qualities? lol

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I think everything you've said is all right and good (can't fit it all in because of character limits), and is a big part of why I like this story; it's largely two people having complicated and weird internal feelings while trying to look like Big Men With Power to each other. And while for Lahabrea it's essentially importing his Endwalker backstory into his ARR presentation, which... sure, for Gaius I think it's a lot more interesting and a lot more important, largely by bridging the gap between his two eras in a clever way.

His turn after the events of the Praetorium always felt kind of weird to me. This is basically the Empire's top general, he's the most loyal and the most capable, while also being a very internally-motivated man; outside of extreme circumstances, he's the only person who can ever convince himself. Why would he turn coat after one loss that you can credit almost entirely to Magical Nonsense? Just from what we see in-game, he should have just dusted himself off, gone 'okay, no more magic rocks' and tried again.

But this scene does a lot for him there; Lahabrea running his mouth and evoking the Emperor while being unable or unwilling to answer basic questions is pretty clearly sowing the seeds of doubt in Gaius' mind, making him realize that there's something fishy going on. And Gaius' loyalty is actually less to the Empire and more to his internal image of how the world should be, so he isn't going to shrug that off. That, combined with the fact this isn't the only time they met (there's at least one implied meeting between them over the course of ARR before the Praetorium), makes the Ultima Weapon situation read more like a final straw for him. It's not just one mistake, it's a damning confirmation that something is wrong, as well as a climax to a series of silent humiliations.

Gaius is, as you said, a man out for atonement rather than redemption; internal validation rather than external. With that, I think this story reads as the first sign that his interior and exterior aren't lining up; not the first step on the journey, but that first doubt that later leads to him taking it.

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Originally Posted by Anonymoose

I'm tempted to explore aetherometaphysical theories associated with auracite/Sabik as a (then) receptacle of Athena's memory and crystalline accelerator one's desires / ambitions...but for the moment I'm think I'm focused more on a simple connection to Lahabrea's sentiments in Pandaemonium.

I think here maybe we see him on the other side of the looking glass - the moment he decides to reject the memories trying to resurface; refuse to consider them a sign that maybe he should look beyond the surface and Sabik as more than a mere tool. On this side of the mirror, he chides himself for this "moment of weakness" because - after the long years and all they have taken from him - nothing matters but his comrades, his goal, his duty, and his god.

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Well the memories seem to persist and try to keep a hold on him until he thrusts it into Gaius's hand. Only then do they look to loose their grasp on Lahabreha. It could be that while not knowing if he had the heart until the Allagans made the Ultima Weapon and made it it's core how often or for how long it was in his possession. The story hints at least to me that he hasn't had it for a long time. Thus any influence Athena's memories and presence would have waned to the point of that it held so little sway over him. Including the part that he had forsaken after he murdered Athena and had not brought back into himself at the end of Pandeamonium.

That after he gave the heart to Gaius he could once again focus fully on his work. The same way he felt when he became whole once more and could be the person he thought his seat demanded him to be.