Raimdelle Reborn: The Neverending Bestiary

[Anonymoose]

I am certain there is a leve/FATE/npc that informs you that microchu are technically "baby ochu" and thus not really being two separate things.

That sounded like a good place to get some perspective, so I went looking.

In one season, a single ochu can produce over a hundred seeds, which, as the creature makes its way through the forest, are oft caught on the moss growing on tree trunks. If left to germinate, the seeds give rise to microchus─a vile plant which has the tendency to sap the soil of its nutrients, leaving little to none for the other foliage. To keep the microchu population in check, the Greatloam Growery seeks botanists to search mossy trees for these seeds and bring them back to the guild for proper disposal.

That's indeed one way to interpret it. To play devil's advocate, if the "ochu" in question is the genus, another interpretation might be "[Ochu & Microchu] can produce over a hundred seeds and there are microchu seeds everywhere. Go pick them up." Funny enough, as you pick them up during the quest, they're called Ochu Seeds. Perhaps the idea is that the ochu genus has a tendency to do this, and right now the microchu species is actively doing it?

It can sometimes be hard to tell which mobs are actually cousins, which are just at different stages of the life cycle, and which are just exhibiting sexual dimorphism. To save time for now, I've been treating all different visual archetypes as species and making it clear that "species" is a game mechanic term, not a biology term.

Perhaps if we finish the chart, we can convince the Lore Gods to throw some confirmation/correction/clarification/expansion at it over time.

Can we not all pool our crystals and wish really hard for Raimdelle to return to Eorzea - if not for a little while?

I can't help but imagine he'd be frustrated by what the Calamity did to his life's work, if for no other reason because we have way more voidsent now.

WHAT THE FACHAN IS THAT!?

EDIT:
Update: Up to S.

Here's an annoying one: Death Gaze. There's only one Genus/Species and it's plainly named Death Gaze, but the Simurgh FATE refers to it as a Cloudkin, in The Voidgate Breathes Gloomy (BLM), it comes out of a hole to the Void (which I thought was Ashkin, but hey maybe not), and it shares a lot of visual features with the Aevis, because Aevis and Deathgaze were both plate wyrms in FFXII.

[RolandDebreton]

Here's an annoying one: Death Gaze. There's only one Genus/Species and it's plainly named Death Gaze, but the Simurgh FATE refers to it as a Cloudkin, in The Voidgate Breathes Gloomy (BLM), it comes out of a hole to the Void (which I thought was Ashkin, but hey maybe not), and it shares a lot of visual features with the Aevis, because Aevis and Deathgaze were both plate wyrms in FFXII.

This all goes to my current theory that either they are being very sloppy with nomenclature or... that Voidsent is geographical demarcation rather than species demarcation, i.e. Voidsent Hippogryph is cloudkin (or beastkin?!) from the void/voidsent, Flan is Spoken from the void/voidsent.

Speaking of, 'what the Fachan....' where is our ahriman pal?

[Kyan]

Speaking of, 'what the Fachan....' where is our ahriman pal?

Saw him chilling near Bluefog the other day! Some adventurer was beating on him, the poor sod.

Death Gaze are perplexing - to look at them I would assume they were vilekin much like our gnats! I do not think I would like to be a naturalist... I'd end up bald and drunk.

[Anonymoose]

...either they are being very sloppy with nomenclature or... that Voidsent is geographical demarcation...

It's all three of the implied possibilities at once, methinks. For starters, I think by now it's clear that the two year rush to develop ARR caused some lore nuances to fall through the cracks while the LOCs strived to keep English the most immersive and interesting version of the game (which I hear rumour that it is, so good job, team!). There are mistakes. We'll find 'em, they'll fix 'em. That said, "Voidsent" is most definitely an umbrella term. At this point in time, though, I don't think it extends to secondary labels like Hippos being "Voidsent Beastkin" or "Voidsent Cloudkin," for instance. These labels are based on an Eorzean naturalist's notes - denizens of the void need not conform our academic standards. To speak as an Eorzean, there is only one unifying factor among Voidsent: "They are not of Eorzea, do not belong here, and must be destroyed."

Nearing completion - just a few more letters to go. In the meantime: ELEMENTAL SPIRITS AND SPRITES

Any ideas? So far I just have them in "Other" with the Primals. The sylphs seemed to be adamant that there's a big difference between the void beyond the aether and the primals' existence amongst the aether. Considering Spirits and Sprites seem to just be sentient collections of aether, I haven't placed them in anything yet. I also had kind of a derpy epiphany (derpiphany?) while researching them. If you zoom in really close on an elemental, they look like little flying collections of aether in the shape of horned hyuran children - just like the padjal they choose! Right after my, "AHA!" wore off, I felt like this had to have been noticed by you fine lot before.

[Kyan]

...the void beyond the aether...

Ugh. You made my head explode with a million ideas. You will be the death of me, Mr. Moose!

Okay! So, I was typing a response to the quoted text, and then so much else happened, and I am trying to bake cupcakes at the same time. Cut and paste of what I was typing:

Mr. Moose, I do not want to interpret what you are saying incorrectly, but the beings from the Void seem to have their own aether when they die, which is foreign to our world and rejected by our Lifesteam. So, they are unlike the rest of Hydaelyn's native creatures whom return to the Lifestream upon death.

Then, this thought happened: (Oh this made me think about Teleport and Return spells - how exactly can Ascians use teleport magics if they can't return to our Lifestream if they are not from our world?)

Then, I was thinking this: If I were to borrow your loremonger cap, I do not feel that [the Void is] just "beyond" the aether, but rather from a "different" source of aether or Lifestream (I was going to call it a Deathstream seeing as it kind of feels like an "opposite" to our Hydaelyn, but that wouldn't make sense - and I certainly wouldn't want to swim in it with that name). The world of Zodiark? Who knows. I am not sure how this plot will pan out, I imagine many different scenarios from what little we have been given.

This actually happened first, but I put it at the bottom, and my cupcakes are burning!: I am imagining the Void may be a little different to past Final Fantasy titles in a way. Perhaps it is more like the torn world from Final Fantasy Dimensions when the Crystal shatters... In our game of XIV, perhaps Hydaelyn is the light half, and Zodiark the dark half, yet they were actually once one whole crystal and one whole, complete, world. This could explain where there are creatures familiar to both realms, like our beloved Gnats or Hippogryphs. These worlds aren't exactly opposites, yes feel in opposition because of the split. Neither is complete without the other, and thus why we are in a chaotic state of Umbral and Astral as they are fighting to remerge/separate themselves. This idea of a "torn world" might lay credence to what the Ascians have said to us through the plot, of fighting for the same cause.

In Dimensions, you play as both the Warriors of Light and Darkness. Both parties reunite, with the goal of reestablishing the world, and thus, the Crystal. I know this is a different game, but could you imagine if Ascians became a playable race in the expansion, and turn out to be our ally rather than foe? Hmm!

I do feel we are being set up with many plots - one similar to many past titles with the idea of politics and religion and being champions of your own fate, but also (as you have hinted in previous posts) the idea of Warriors of Light and Darkness.

The Void and the Lifestream are two things I am interested in, but careful to think about, for fear of my small Miqo'te mind. It results in burnt chocolate cupcakes.

This has nothing to do with bestiary, so I apologise.

[RolandDebreton]

Elementals, I was just talking about those fellows in another forum.

They do not fit the measure of any of the traditional biological subsets (Wavekin, Beastkin, Cloudkin, Scalekin). They could be argued to be of a type of Spoken, though I'm certain that they are not Ashkin (they do not profile as classical undead). I'm thinking they can't fit a heading like Forgekin, so the closest they come to Bloodless Regnum is Soulkin, but Ferne's early words on Soulkin and their beholden nature makes me wonder.

I will say that the Regnum of Transcendent has a fascinating name. Voidsent is but a Class to the larger Regnum. At present on my notes I have placed as an uncertain field a regnum Primal, with classes of Elder Primal and Primal.

Long story short, I've made up my own fields at present. I currently have a class of unknown bloodless simply known as Elementals that includes Elementals proper and Elemental Sprites.

[Anonymoose]

They could be argued to be of a type of Spoken

They certainly do speak... Hmm...

The closest they come to Bloodless Regnum is Soulkin

Before we knew what that meant, that was our first assumption about elementals; I've since backed off that idea, as well.

I will say that the Regnum of Transcendent has a fascinating name. Voidsent is but a Class to the larger Regnum.

This is an interesting thought, actually. Both the Version 1.0 game mechanics and the list provided by Fernehalwes implied that the 3 Regnum / 11 Class system could accommodate all of the mobs existent at the time, which included both primals and elementals. But let us pretend that this isn't the case for a moment... Voidsent transcend our realm, but the Great River of Aether, the Lifestream, transcends the corporeal, as well. We're told that revenants and bogies are spirits that never found their way back to the stream and must be sent from the corporeal realm. What if there was a second class of Transcendent or Bloodless for beings of aetherial coalescence? Primals, sprites, elemental spirits...

I certainly can't add it to the chart, because too quickly does speculation become fanon, but it's an interesting idea.


Also, I found the source for the tidbit about the Voidsent umbrella I mentioned earlier:

Very little is known about the void other than that the laws that govern our realm do not always apply. In addition to one-eyed monstrosities, peculiar balls of fur, and nightmarish demons, oddities such as floating orbs of energy also periodically break through the boundaries that separate this realm from the void. Make no mistake, however, everything through those rifts does not belong in Eorzea and must be destroyed.

To reply to Kyan's Void-related ideas (which could totally be expanded upon in one of the void threads)

I do not feel that [the Void is] just "beyond" the aether, but rather from a "different" source of aether or Lifestream <snip> Perhaps it is more like the torn world from Final Fantasy Dimensions when the Crystal shatters... In our game of XIV, perhaps Hydaelyn is the light half, and Zodiark the dark half, yet they were actually once one whole crystal and one whole, complete, world. <snip> in a chaotic state of Umbral and Astral as they are fighting to remerge/separate themselves. This idea of a "torn world" might lay credence to what the Ascians have said to us through the plot, of fighting for the same cause.

I, too, got a very "Warriors of Light and Darkness" vibe off of this whole thing, but have hesitated to take that theory further before any confirmation of that is made. It's fun to speculate, but anything beyond that massive assumption is a house of cards just waiting to happen. If we were right about the World of Light and the World of Dark, the one crystal split into Astral and Umbral halves would fit perfectly with the story so far.

The ascians did speak of the world "regaining its true form," but then again they also talked about how the open door to the void would flood our world in darkness and burn Hydaelyn out of existence, which sends a very different message. It's hard to say whether the goal is the merging of Light and Dark into True, or just the balance of Light and Dark. As I said, I've yet to think about much of it yet.

The beings from the Void seem to have their own aether when they die, which is foreign to our world and rejected by our Lifesteam.

This is one of the leaps in logic I was just referring to; is there anything we can point to when we say they have dark aether and that dark aether is rejected by our lifestream? Granted, if Zodiark is indeed the dark crystal, and crystals are made of aether, it makes sense that they could have a "dark corporeal" world (though, again, we're already on tier two of that house of cards with that assumption).

The thing is, we keep getting told that it is a void where corporeal rules of physics do not apply. Even the Ascians call it "the void." Is it truly dark aether they they expel, or is it the aether they've consumed while here combined with the energy of their void essence? Hydaelyn aether is a voidsent's favorite snack, and as we say to all the dead and dying, you can't take it with you.

If I remember correctly, part of the Seventh Umbral Era story arc was that Atomos couldn't manifest corporeally until it had consumed our aether. It's a little fuzzy, but I remember this being a big thing back in the day ... Batraal was the same. The massive crystal deposits in the Darkhold caused a thinning of the veil between realms, which he slipped through before consuming said aether and manifesting as a gargoyle... I'll have to get back to you on that. This is 2011/2012 stuff.

Still, I'm just exploring the other side of the coin - I have no idea what's up on the other side of the rift.

I could go back and forth all day.

how exactly can Ascians use teleport magics if they can't return to our Lifestream if they are not from our world?)

That's a good question. They have a unique, violet teleportation animation and the gate to the void stands wide open. Perhaps they jump out of our realm and back into it? Or ride our foreign lifestream themselves? No idea.

Only a few more mob models before I start adding Spoken and polishing the list before opening it up to advice, discussion, and the pointing-out of oversights! Just need t-... ah, balls. The condor/vulture/buzzard things... and the Ziz/Axebeak things... I've been dreading these two.

[RolandDebreton]

rather from a "different" source of aether

I don't think he's donned a freshly crafted tinfoil sugarloaf, here.

I am having weather related, internet issues. Searching is a bear, and my notes are void of details. I have read somewhere, though, that in a leve there are voidsent slain who leave a nasty purple aether that is rejected by our own world and flounders before it crumbles, so to speak, unable to join with our own.

This is both consistent a nod to FFVII's model that this system is analogous to, and the rough sketch of how aether works that we've been given.

I will say though; plopping on my speculation hat; I don't think voidsent aether is the same as dark competing aether from Zodiark. We have three competing Final Fantasy tropes here. The light, longing for all its refulgence and glory; the dark seeking to consume, destroy and halt; and the void seeking to swallow existence into nihility.

[Kyan]

I have read somewhere, though, that in a leve there are voidsent slain who leave a nasty purple aether that is rejected by our own world and flounders before it crumbles, so to speak, unable to join with our own.

Not sure if it is the same, but you may be thinking of the guildhest (why do I keep spelling it guildheist? LOL) Annoy the Void.

Buso draws his power from eerie blue flames which erupt from the carcasses of minions summoned from the void and then sacrificed here in this realm. While these flames burn, Buso will be nigh indestructible. Extinguish the fires before attempting to engage him.

The NPC tells you as you battle that the blue flames are the aetheric remains of the hippogryphs that you kill, and that it is aether rejected by our Lifestream. Buso actually draws strength by consuming this aether - but it seems that the source of the aether does not matter when it comes to voidsent, just as long as it's aether. I would like to redo this guildhest for the text that pops up whilst in the battle.

I think we should move any more Void-talk to a Void-thread, but I think I am done for now. I would like to see what happens with the plot, probably beyond the next patch.

On the topic of Elementals: I only played 1.0 for 6 months, and played as THM and CON mainly. I only achieved about level 27 as my highest rank. I do recall, though, there was a conjurer hearer, an NPC who was particularly talented with communing with Elementals inside trees, who wished he was able to speak to Elementals inside of metal and airships. I am assuming that, the notion of Elementals being inside of metal or airships has been removed from lore? I used to love zooming in on them and admiring their little horns - I was so happy to see them return in the Conjurer 30 quest, briefly. Though, they do remind me of faeries.

[Anonymoose]

The NPC tells you as you battle that the blue flames are the aetheric remains of the hippogryphs that you kill, and that it is aether rejected by our Lifestream.

I didn't remember it being that specific, but you're absolutely correct.

Those horrible blue flames─they're the aetherial traces of slain voidsent. Our Lifestream won't have the stuff, so the essence remains trapped in the corporeal realm. Buso taps that essence...

Based on what we know from the past, I have no idea what to make of it, really. I'll have to think it over. Thankfully, the impacts are on much larger bits of the lore than just the bestiary, which it affects very litt-

I think we should move any more Void-talk to a Void-thread

I'll see you there! lol