1.0 Stroyline Information

[Anonymoose]

From what I can tell, the Garlean Empire has control of every other place on the planet aside from Eorzea?

Eorzeans have a very limited worldview and we know very little about the planet. We know that there's a series of three massive continents that, for the sake of this explanation, you can think of as being like Africa, Europe, and Asia. These are called the "Three Great Continents." The continent in Africa's position would be Aldenard, Aldenard and it's surrounding islands create a cultural sphere called the realm of Eorzea. In the northeast, there's a land bridge connecting us to the middle of the Three Great Continents, Ilsabard, which is in Europe's position. This is where the Garleans are from - Garlemald conquered the northern nations and solidified them into an Empire and then conquered the rest of the middle content. After that, they went east, to the last great continent, Othard, in Asia's position, and conquered most of it. A few independent and strategically worthless cities that are benign to imperial domination still exist on Othard, but for the most part the Far East is subjugated under Imperial rule.

So, back to your question: The Garleans obviously control a lot of land, being in control of two of the Three Great Continents. But there's islands of various sizes all around that seem to be presently free of Imperial rule. There's also the possibility that beyond the Three Great Continents there are others. Maybe there's something where you'd expect the Americas to be, to keep this metaphor going. We only know Othard and Ilsabard in abstract concepts, we don't even know what they look like, yet, so it's all Terra Incognita, and realistically speaking, the Garleans control only a fraction of it (but, still, a respectable chunk).

if Al Migo was considered the strongest nation (country?) of Aldenard then why are their rebels treated so poorly within the three city states?

There are a lot of reasons all factoring into their present condition at once. Something easily overlooked is the fact that Ala Mhigo waged a war on Gridania in an attempt to expand not long ago. I'm sure that wound isn't entirely healed yet; most of the cities got dragged into it. Then, you have the fact that the Ala Mhigans who live in Thanalan now fall into two groups - refugees and scrappy, patriotic freedom fighters. They're dependent on assistance and being offered work, and many aren't making much of an attempt to integrate into Ul'dahn culture. You can see where the Ul'dahns, who value power and wealth above all, wouldn't treat them very well. In 1.0, Ala Mhigo was even worse than it is now - a few tents in a cave - the only reason they're better off now is that Raubahn integrated well into Ul'dahn culture, dominated the Coliseum, became immensely wealthy, and then used his seat on the Syndicate to restore the Immortal Flames and revive the dying spirit of Royalism (loyalty to the sultana; most on the Syndicate are monetarist, loyal only to profit). The Ala Mhigan brigade of the Immortal Flames and Raubahn's good will probably went a long way to getting Ala Mhigans work and opportunities to take part in the city's defense and maintenance, but most still just consider them a burden unless they can find a way to exploit them. Look at any real-world mass immigration of unskilled laborers; lots of hostility in the American melting pot over the years seeing waves from Germany, Ireland, Italy, and most recently, Mexico.

Why was there a seal that preventing the primals from being summoned in Eorzea? How was it placed there?

Unknown, unknown, unknown aaand unknown. I assume it'll come up again someday, in the story, but for now it's all a big mystery. It's not 100% confirmed, as far as I know, that the primals were sealed. Othard summoned primals just fine before the seal broke, so either only some local primals were in it or it was just an artistic representation of what happens when a bunch of beast tribes are praying to their gods at the same time a massive aether concentration explodes. It sure did look like primals were just exploding out of that aether flood when the seal broke, though. Mor Dhona is the center of the world's aetherial network - whether the Allag made it that with Crystal Tower or whether they built Crystal Tower there because of it is kind of a chicken and egg situation, and depending on that information you can make a few guesses. They were also pretty good at sealing primals... so... unknown, unknown and unknown. But probably Allagans. Because Allagans.

Is Midgardsormr the big skeleton wrapped around the airship for the loading screen of Mor Dhona? Is he considered a primal?

Yes, the skeleton is Midgardsormr, no he was not a primal (the skeleton proves that - primals just dissipate back into aether. Midgardsormr was a king among dragons, which is why the Dravanians tore the Garleans to pieces at his behest. Why he was there, why he was so big, why he was so different from other dragons - all that's up in the air. I'm sure there'll come a point in the story when a dragon or a primal (or that big dragon primal) takes a minute to impart some wisdom about that.

why is it only the beast tribes have primals? Why doesn't mankind have a primal?

There's no proof we don't. Then again, there's no proof any primals really belong to anyone, or even exist outside of their cultural mindset. The nature of primals is very mysterious. There's an "essence" that latches onto prayers and if we feed it enough aether it gains a temporary form in our realm. What is this essence? We don't know. But it's been implied over and over that you can do the same thing with just about anything, including the Twelve. It's implied that the primals are images - icons - false gods - created by prayers and aether, and that you don't quite get what you wished for. Look to the Moogles to figure out what happens when you summon a mythological figure; the whole thing falls apart when they start behaving just like a primal. For all we know, if you earnestly, honestly, zealously believed in a Burrito Knight, and wished really hard to summon it while adding a bunch of aether, it might appear in all of its spicy glory. And then it would demand lots of aether and try to temper you and start a big feedback loop to maintain its own existence and power. The thing is, the primals have way, way more power than the manifestation of Good King Moggle Mog, so there may be something to this "essence" thing that we haven't figured out yet.

What is an Archon?

Long story short? A mythical figure that appears around the time of a Calamity to lead people out of it on behalf of the Twelve; though of as an earthly incarnation of the gods. What truth, if any, is there to the legend? No idea, but Louisoix and his best student, Urianger, fit the bill well enough, so that's what we call them. We still don't really know if they called themselves that because there's some truth in the tales, or because it would make Eorzeans more likely to trust them, or if they're doing it to be ironic hipsters who make inside-joke puns because "archon" means "ruler" (in the sense of a head of a group) and Louisoix led the Circle of Knowing, a position Urianger inherited and seems to retain in some degree even though the Circle and the Path combined into the Scions. Enkidoh and I go into it a little deeper here.

Why were there no Grand Companies at this point in the story?

Think of the Grand Companies as an emergency declaration of martial law that happens when a Calamity hits and an Umbral Era begins. It's a traditional, cultural thing. When the Astral Era collapses, the cities entrust a great deal of their power and authority into the Grand Companies so that they might be saved. Until Dalamud started falling, people had no reason to believe the Sixth Astral Era was over. Hell, even when Dalamud was falling there was a lot of denial about it and some figured it'd be a lesser evil to take their chances not declaring martial law (and some were just greedy and power hungry and didn't want to let their influence go until it was that or get stomped to death by magitek and crushed by a moon).

Is it just me or is there some parallels between the rant of Nael van Darnus and the song 'Answers'?

There are connections everywhere. Some are real, some are coincidental, some are imaginary. If you figure out which are which, let me know!

Does this mean the whole time we've been collecting Tombstones for gear they've been records of Allgan secrets and thinga-ma-whosits?

First, they're tomestones, not tombstones. Tome - stone. Like a stone that has a book's worth of information in it. Don't feel bad if you've been calling them by the wrong name. In 1.0, the German client even translated them as Allagan Grave Stones. Essentially, they're pieces of quartzlike material that have been used as an information storage tool. When Darnus showed up, he went looking for them because he needed a few pieces of missing Allagan information to complete his lunar transmitter replication. Unfortunately for us, he got lucky and found it. Cid even handed it over because he figured it was weathered and worthless (GOOD GOING, BUDDY). Now that we know they're not worthless, there's a storm of people trying to gather them all up and learn their secrets. Rowena got her start working for an Ishgardian noble who was after Allag artifacts. She seems like a self-made woman now, but she's still after Allag stuff. Makes you wonder if they're still in contact. Makes you wonder who he is - what he wants - what he's doing.

Do we ever find out what Daybreak is or was that the summoning ritual for the Twelve?

It's you! The Champion of Eorzea - chosen of Hydaelyn - the very best of the Warriors of Light. Though spoken of as a sword, symbolically, in the Divine Chronicles of Mezaya Thousand-Eyes, Daybreak seems to be sword in a metaphorical sense - a warrior. The game has lots of throwbacks to this if you read what NPCs say about you and look out for them. You're the "blade of light," "Eorzea's sword in the darkness," etc. Louisoix knew this, and he hinted at it gently, but we left the door open for speculation because Fanon is bad. Doesn't matter how obvious it is, it's not really canon until SE says it clearly and you're sure it's the truth.

Honestly, I'd love to see your goal complete

What a coincidence! Me, too! Thing is, I also kind of want to finish college and eat stuff and not be homeless, and I also kind of want to play this game sometimes, too, I guess. This severely limits my solo resources, so, uh, we'll see...