Raimdelle Reborn: The Neverending Bestiary

[Anonymoose]

There's no consensus at all on [Ziz]

Aye. I've been avoiding the Ziz like the plauge.

Variants:
Yellow, Sable, Blue, Violet

Common Names:
Ziz, ___ Beak, Pelican

Already we seem to be missing one. But what if we mix and match by name and color? Some random samples:

Pelican: Great Yellow Pelican (Yellow), Rothlyt Pelican (Sable), Giant Pelican (Blue)
Ziz: Brood Ziz (Blue), Molted Ziz (Blue), Ziz Gorlin (Yellow), Ziz (Yellow), Pack Ziz (Blue), Carrier Ziz (Violet)
___ Beak: Axe Beak (Sable), Gaunt Beak (Sable), Guillotine Beak (Violet), Hammer Beak (Violet), Rudis Beak (Sable), Sledgehammer Beak (???), Tomahawk Beak (Violet)

Yellow: Great Yellow Pelican, Ziz Gorlin, Ziz
Sable: Rothlyt Pelican, Axe Beak, Gaunt Beak, Rudis Beak,
Violet: Carrier Ziz, Guillotine Beak, Hammer Beak, Tomahawk Beak
Blue: Great Pelican, Brood Ziz, Molted Ziz, Pack Ziz

Conclusions? None. I've been hoping that by bumping into Territorial Axe Beak, Territorial Pelican, and Alpha Ziz would yield something to work with, or maybe there'll be a third type of grouping based on what attacks they use if I search them all out (a recommendation I got earlier).

Do you see any patterns?

Just throwing guesses out there, I'd go with Ziz as a Genus. Blue and Yellow for Pelican and Ziz, though which is which I don't know. The Sable and Violet share plumage and frill-spike coloring as well as splitting all of the Beak names between them. Perhaps there's an Axe Beak and another beak. If you discarded the visuals and just looked at the names, you could say there are Ziz, Pelicans, Axe Beaks (Sharp), and Hammer Beaks (Dull)... but I don't see a pattern yet.

(Can you tell I start to go a little nuts if not passively working on some arbitrary puzzle? lol)

[Viridiana]

Pelican: Great Yellow Pelican (Yellow), Rothlyt Pelican (Sable), Giant Pelican (Blue)

At the risk of derailing (or detouring, not sure which), I have a question about these guys. Why are the Rothlyt Pelicans on the opposite side of the (accessible portion of the) map from where the Rothlyt Sound is?

I feel like there's probably some text somewhere explaining how they were transported over by sailors way back when and took over the area due to lack of predators or some such, but I haven't seen it. . .

[Anonymoose]

Why are the Rothlyt Pelicans on the opposite side of the (accessible portion of the) map from where the Rothlyt Sound is?

...
...
...OH, SON OF A B[kupo!]CH.

That's where the names come from. They're just called different things by the locals. <takes off darksteelfoil hat, puts on sugarloaf duncecap>

La Noscea: Pelicans
The Black Shroud: Ziz
Thanalan: Axe Beaks

They're all Ziz - Orophin was right about the fact that their attacks are different. That's all the color palette marks.

Well that marks Ziz off our list <Victory Fanfare> ...back to the birds, I guess...

That said I have no what's up with Rothlyt Pelicans. Maybe they eat Rothlyt Oysters, which are mostly fished up in La Noscea... despite the biggest, best ones coming from Rothlyt Sound on the other side of the continent? Hm...

[Lusavari]

Maybe they're migrating? Either way, we have made progress and solved a mighty mystery this day.

[Lusavari]

OK. Here's the next topic, Moose: Megalocrabs.

I believe in 1.0 the red ones were established in the lore as Snippers. I believe this was mentioned on the 1.0 promo-site. It said something along the lines of them washing up on the beaches and being aggressive. Low and behold, there were Red Snippers on the beaches of old Blood Shore, and they're still there today I believe (Around where Cancer pops). It's lost to time, but I think somewhere there was a reference to the green ones being Clippers. I don't think I've seen Clippers since I returned to the game though. And then the blue ones are still a complete mystery.

[Viridiana]

Maybe they're migrating? Either way, we have made progress and solved a mighty mystery this day.

Can they even fly? That would be a terrifying sight. . .

[Anonymoose]

Megalocrabs. <...> Snippers. <...> I think somewhere there was a reference to the green ones being Clippers. I don't think I've seen Clippers since I returned to the game though. And then the blue ones are still a complete mystery.

Though the Red Megalocrab Shell and Green Megalocrab Shell don't give the same hints a lot of the others do, simply referring to both as megalocrabs, I think the distinction still stands. I remember making a distinction for the green ones myself once upon a time, but I notice now that Clippers were red as well, so I don't know what we'd call them other then Megalocrabs now. Going by the Version 1.0 standards, original Raimdelle Codex entry, and basic snippers coming up multiple times in quests, I don't see a reason to doubt the treasure hunt mobs names: Territorial Megalocrab (Green) and Territorial Snipper (Red). I've never seen the white one. You ever seen the white one?

The blue ones, though, I think are Stoneshells. It's tough to say, given that they all have Xshell names, but whereas we only have one example of Smallshell, Flintshell, Fossilshell, Loamshell, Sandshell, and Thickshell, we have Stoneshell, Moraby Stoneshell, and Territorial Stoneshell.

[Lusavari]

The one you're calling the white one is the one I'm calling the blue one. My scouring the realm has yet to turn one up. Through maps I've found Cactuars don't use a TP move, Sabotenders do 100 Needles, and Flowertenders do 1000 Needles though.

Also, for buffalo... I think we have Buffalo (from 1.0 for sure) and Aurouchs. The MRD story focuses particularly on an Aurouch named Kujata. I've not seen the one with mossy feet though. The Aurochs I think are the slightly whiter species.

I'm also willing to go out on a limb for the Mind Flayers in that the basic one is the Mind Flayers, the yellow one is a Piscodemon, and the black one is the Psycheflayer. I haven't seen the yellow one or #4 though... Those seem to be logical though.... The black one is in AK, and is called Psycheflayer, so that one makes the most sense.

Also, what do you think of hybrid classes, like Ashscales for the Bone dragon? It would be easier than trying to shoehorn something into 1 group.

[Kyan]

Seeing as we are talking about monsters in this thread -my loose connection to the amazing new 2.2 video and the possibilities it holds for several lore threads- it looks like there possibly will be a whole lot more voidsent (Amdapori) and fun things to add to your masterwork, Mr. Moose!

There also seems to be a lot of exotic animals in Halitali, perhaps from the other lands. I recall reading the Miqo'te name/lore thread, and the discussion between devs and players about adding a bear monster. Well, It looks like it has come to fruition! That thing looks pretty rad!

Anecdotally, it was because of the Miqo'te lore that saw me ditching my midlander Hyur name Kyan (I was considering K'yhan, and even used it during Beta. But as there were no hipparions, and vipers were at least present in items, the L tribe ultimately won my heart!). It is nice to see that the Miqo'te totem animals are being represented in game as actual beings.

[Anonymoose]

The one you're calling the white one is the one I'm calling the blue one

Might just not be in the game yet. That happens a lot.

The Aurochs I think are the slightly whiter species.

That's usually how it goes. The lower the ID, the closer to the base. I was hoping to confirm with screenshots Buffalo v. Aurochs but the coloration differences are so slight that it could just be the time of day. Going to have to hunt them down myself ><

...Mind Flayers ... Piscodemon ... Psycheflayer.

Agreed. Too few examples to chalk them up as any shade of green, but definitely enough for the first guesses when I get back to that part of the list.

Also, what do you think of hybrid classes ... It would be easier than trying to shoehorn something into 1 group.

Easier, yes, but I've yet to hear of this occurring in the game. Again, I feel pressured to be strict so nothing becomes "fanon." I hesitated to even put bats in beastkin (they were birds in FFXI, a common mistake in Old World naturalism), but took the leap because they're oft called beasts and compared to rats (rodents being beastkin).

One thing I've been trying to do is find evidence with the patterns seen on the Labyrinth Map.

From the Crossroads

• The Path of Decay (Folly→Demise→Oblivion) leads to the Tainted
• The Path of Vice (Lament) leads to the Deviant
• The Path of Redemption (Fire) faces the Savage and becomes (via Ascension)the Inexorable

So, let's test my interpretation skills:


Our lives can lead to Death, Corruption, or Resurrection. At the end of the Path of Decay lies the remnants of those that have died - Ashkin - Bone Dragon and Platinal. I don't think Ashkin are meant to extend only to the Spoken - that's just how it worked out at first. Down the path of Corruption, we see the two types of possession, Succubus, whereby creatures from the void possess corporeal forms, and a Dullahan, what is implied to be the vengeful spirit of man possessing corporeal armor. One voidsent and one ashkin (?), but the same concept. Down the path of Resurrection, by overcoming the flames of hell (Vassago is a demon) and a savage beast with a biblical name, one rises to the ascended - the reborn, unstoppable guardian - Acheron.


So Bone Dragon is to Scalekin as Skeleton is to Spoken? One big happy Ashkin family?

2.2 <...> and fun things to add to your masterwork, Mr. Moose!

I saw some easy ones and some ones that are just going to frustrate me, I think. Beastkin, vilekin, voidsent, spoken, forgekin, primal, spoken ... IS THAT A FREAKING MECHANIZED TREANT? CAN GOOBBUES BE ASHKIN!? Here's hoping there'll be some context clues, lmao.