Triple Triad Card descriptions

[Belhi]

I noticed when looking at my first set of cards that it mentions that Mandragora's first appeared after the Calamity. Each of the cards seems to have a little description about the figure on the card.

I'm new to the lore of FF14 and that might have been common knowledge but it was and interesting tidbit I didn't know. I'm wondering if anyone else has found any interesting facts from the card descriptions.

[Anonymoose]

I thought this might come up, lol. I made a list for a future bestiary expansion using one of the many Triple Triad focused websites popping up, so it'll be an easy copy/paste. Have at it! Some good stuff in here ^^


Dodo
These large, flightless cloudkin originated from the island of Mazlaya, and were brought to the mainland by Qiqirn who bred them for their eggs. The free races of Eorzea have reared the rotund creatures ever since, though they are now valued primarily for their meat. Would-be poultry farmers be warned: when seeking to defend itself, a dodo will spit forth a sleep-inducing secretion.

Tonberry
Little is known about this inscrutable race of beastmen that inhabits the ruins of Nym—a culture that reached its peak during the Fifth Astral Era. Tonberries wear clothing and are adept in the use of complex tools, both of which would seem to suggest a civilized level of intelligence. Recently discovered texts from Nymian times suggest that the green denizens of the Wanderer's Palace are the carriers of a terrible pestilence.

Sabotender
Found exclusively in arid regions, cactuars are known for their ability to survive extended periods under the scorching sun on naught but the moisture stored within their bodies. Conditioned by the brutal nature of their surroundings, cactuars are quick to defend themselves, launching a barrage of needle-like projectiles at potential predators—and the occasional unwary traveler.

Spriggan
Spriggans are neither sprites nor faeries, but share similarities with both. They are known to inhabit rocky regions and the deep recesses of mines. These black-furred soulkin are famous for carrying a gem or chunk of ore about with them at all times—a custom which may explain the popularly held belief within the mining fraternity that they are bringers of good fortune. Their classification as soulkin is based on a theory expounded in the Codex of Stone, which asserts that the creatures are naught but vessels for the will of the earth.

Pudding
These gelatinous creatures spawn in the agglomerations of residual matter that sometimes form in the void. Though able to mimic rudimentary sounds of speech in order to draw forth their prey, they are not thought to be especially intelligent beings. As a relatively low-ranked voidsent, flans occupy the tenth rung of the hierarchy.

Bomb
This barely contained sphere of volatile gas and flame occupies the eleventh rung of the voidsent's hierarchy of twelve. Bombs must replenish their internal reserves of fuel in order to survive, and are drawn to consume any source of oil or fat that they encounter, be it plant, animal, or man. Grenades, an even more explosive species of bomb, are a place higher in the hierarchy, standing upon the tenth rung.

Mandragora
The enigmatic mandragora were first observed in the aftermath of the Seventh Umbral Era. It is not known whence they came, or if they even existed prior to the Calamity. Preliminary studies appear to suggest that the diminutive seedkin are sentient and capable of an advanced form of non-verbal communication, but further research is required to confirm these findings. The rest is mere speculation.

Coblyn
The coblyn is a creature of startling appearance that skitters around on its tentacle-like appendages in search of ore. Gridanian scholars claim that a coblyn is an animal that fuses minerals to its body to create a defensive shell. Ul'dahn scholars dispute this theory, stating that these soulkin are, in fact, sentient clumps of geological matter that have adopted biological organs in order to facilitate propagation.

Morbol
The morbol is a terrible beast that moves upon its slime-covered vines and roots. Highly aggressive, it kills both animals and plants with a combination of its noxious breath and ceaselessly flailing tendrils. Upon occasion, the beast will also emit a sweet-smelling gas which induces a deep sleep. Rather than rending or chewing, the fang-shaped thorns which line the morbol's maw serve to hold prey immobile during digestion.

Coeurl
Native to the regions of the Near East, these predatory quadrupeds are unrivaled in their savagery. A coeurl subdues its prey by unleashing electrical shocks from the two whip-like appendages that frame its fang-lined jaws. The feral specimens encountered in Eorzea descend from escaped war beasts once trained on a remote island at the mouth of the Rothlyt Sound known as the Pearl.

Ahriman
Ahriman are a family of voidsent that manifest in the physical plane by investing their essences in the eyes of animals. They are possessed of great arcane ability, and fly by clawing their way along airborne currents of aether. According to studies of voidsent hierarchy, the ahriman family is of middling class, its various forms occupying the fourth and fifth rungs.

Goobbue
A goobbue is a lumbering beast that has a symbiotic relationship with the moss and lichen growing atop its head. This growth provides the creature with a measure of camouflage, and, in return, the goobbue keeps the vegetation moist during the drier seasons with water scooped up in its hands. Though seemingly placid, the goobbue is a relentless predator, snatching up anything that skitters or crawls and shoveling it into its cavernous mouth.

Chocobo
The domestication of chocobos in Eorzea appears to date back to pre-history, with ancient paintings recently discovered near Ishgard showing tribesfolk using the flightless yellow cloudkin to till the earth, transport grain, and carry warriors into battle. While the overwhelming majority of chocobos seen in Eorzea today are of Coerthan stock, it is rumored that wild breeds of the species—including those which have retained the capacity for flight—still thrive throughout forests nestled in the vastly unexplored valleys of Ablathia's Spine.

Amalj'aa
The Amalj'aa are a race of nomadic beastmen who inhabit the grasslands of Paglth'an, where they subsist by hunting the native wildlife. They share a long and bitter history of conflict with the people of Ul'dah. Trained in the arts of war from a tender age, all members of an Amalj'aa clan, old and young, male and female, are skilled warriors. They also boast a fine mastery of metallurgy, and their weapons fetch a tidy sum from those seeking arms of quality.

Ixal
This aggressive mountain tribe claim the wind-blasted canyons of Xelphatol as their domain. Though their race has long since lost the capacity for flight, the feathered beastmen are fervently proud of their vestigial wings. The Ixal seek to re-establish their presence in the Black Shroud that they might once again fell trees in worship of their fickle deity—an ambition which places them at odds with the people of Gridania.

Sylph
In the northern reaches of Gridania, in the depths of the Black Shroud, live the reclusive sylphs. These diminutive beings resemble children's dolls wrapped in vibrant leaves. The demeanor of the sylphs is comparable to that of an innocent child, but their propensity to employ their magical talents to "playfully" torment travelers has all too often been the cause of untold anguish and even tragedy for their hapless victims.

Kobold
The kobolds are a race of mole-like creatures who have excavated a warren of tunnels under O'Ghomoro, a mountain situated in northern Vylbrand. Believing the ores of the earth to be a gift of the primal Titan, these subterranean beastmen seek to divine their deity's teachings through the arts of alchemy. The peace agreement forged between the kobolds and Limsa Lominsa has served little to quell resurgent hostilities.

Sahagin
These aquatic beastmen reside in a city at the bottom of the Indigo Deep. They breathe water as well as air, and glide through the depths with graceful ease. The social structure of the Sahagin resembles a pyramid, with a single queen-like figure stationed at its point. On the streets of Limsa Lominsa, to mention the name of Sahagin is to invite dark looks and muttered curses.

Moogle
Do not be fooled by their winsome personae, for moogles are a highly intelligent race of creatures capable of creating utter chaos with the unique brand of elemental magicks at their disposal. For the most part, they are content to keep to themselves, choosing to roam the Twelveswood hidden behind glamours rendering them invisible to all but the most spiritually acute.

Siren
Once feared across the five seas, today sirens are but the stuff of legend, due in part to a thorough culling of the creatures some years past by the renowned pirate Mistbeard. Recent sightings of the seductive she-devils, however, once again have sea and landsmen alike exchanging tales of sirens entrancing entire ship crews with their accursed songs, then feeding on their captives' souls until all that remain are lifeless husks.

Ultros & Typhon
A queer duo of heretofore unseen creatures believed, but not yet confirmed, to be voidsent summoned to this realm via an arcane spell discovered by a student of the Thaumaturges' Guild. Upon their arrival in the corporeal plane, both were quick to acclimate to life in Eorzea—Ultros earning a position as headliner for Coliseum-run venationes, and Typhon entering the employ of Godbert Manderville at his high-end gaming establishment, the Gold Saucer.

Demon Wall
These frightful guardians are the creations of ancient spellcraft, given life when a chosen wall was inscribed with an arcane pattern of blood. Though their masters have long since perished, these sentinels of demonic visage continue to protect the crumbling ruins to which they are bound—to the surprise and horror of many an unsuspecting adventurer.

Succubus
Succubi manifest on the physical plane by forcing their souls into the bodies of deceased women. Once the transition is complete, the resultant creature is said to be both fair and fey to look upon. Still more disconcerting, researchers claim that these voidsent occasionally exhibit the personality traits of their deceased hosts. Succubi occupy the third and fourth rungs of the voidsent hierarchy.

Chimera
A nightmarish combination of lion, goat, and dragon, the fell chimera has three heads, a pair of mighty wings, and a cruelly barbed tail. Its origins have been furiously debated, with some insisting the creature a cruel jest of the gods, while others believe it the twisted creation of forbidden sorcery.

Blue Dragon
Sharing the blood of Midgardsormr and his progeny, the great wyrms, a blue dragon can live upwards of a thousand summers—a period during which the creature will undergo divers changes to its physical and mental capacities. This independent "evolution" of sorts renders each member of the species unique, making it all the more difficult for enemies of the dragons to conceive and establish any manner of standardized battle strategy.

Behemoth
The first sightings of these heavily muscled beasts in the mountains of Coerthas coincided with the advent of the Seventh Umbral Era. Scholars believe them to be the spawn of the elder primal Bahamut, and have dubbed the creatures "behemoths." Aside from their obvious physical traits, much about behemoth behavior and physiology remains shrouded in mystery.

Ifrit
Summoned by the Amalj'aa of sunbaked Paglth'an, the Lord of the Inferno—with molten claws that render metal into bubbling pools of molten ooze, and terrible horns that stretch skyward, ever threatening to brand the heavens above—is feared across the realm for a blazing fury almost as unquenchable as his desire to swell the ranks of his tempered armies.

Titan
Summoned by the kobolds of O'Ghomoro, the Lord of Crags maintains an air of forbearance rarely seen in the realm's other primals. However, should he sense the lives of his loyal acolytes are in peril, he will not hesitate to call upon the very mountains themselves to crush the life from those who would bring them harm.

Garuda
Summoned by the Ixal tribes of Xelphatol, Garuda harbors the uncanny ability to manipulate the very air which surrounds her. The winds she wields, however, have twisted her heart and broken her mind, rendering the Lady of the Vortex a merciless tyrant with an appetite for destruction that is nigh insatiable.

Good King Moggle Mog XIII
Summoned by a rogue sect of Twelveswood moogles believing the regent to be the very figure who led their peoples from their home in the starry welkin down to the realm of Eorzea, Good King Moggle Mog XII is only actually "good" to his handful of subjects, doling out healthy dollops of royal justice to all others who would dare stand in his way.

Ultima Weapon
A relic of the Third Astral Era, the Ultima Weapon is a feat of Allagan technology—the same technology which saw the reach of the Allagan Empire extend to the four corners of Hydaelyn. Upon rediscovery of the mechanical juggernaut buried deep beneath the lands just beyond Ala Mhigo, the XIVth Legion of the Imperial Garlean Army refitted it to serve as a countermeasure against the ever-growing primal threat.

Odin
While no one knows exactly when or by whom the Dark Divinity was summoned, the elder primal roams the Twelveswood astride his loyal warhorse Sleipnir seeking a bloody reckoning for misdeeds lost but unforgotten.

Ramuh
Worshipped by the sylphs of the Twelveswood, the Lord of Levin is a thunderous entity with boundless knowledge of ages past. He is stern yet just, but his judgment is final, and those found guilty of mortal sin will be met with mighty bolts of white-hot lightning.

Leviathan
Summoned by the Sahagin tribes of the Indigo Deep, the Lord of the Whorl ever lurks beneath the sea's surface, seeking ships to swallow and sailors to join his ranks of drowned minions. Fishers and saltwives throughout history have believed the tidal waves which oft flood their costal villages are created by the thrashing tail of an angered Leviathan, and have for centuries offered sacrifices to the sea in hopes of soothing the serpent.

Shiva
The Enchiridion, holy scripture for the Ishgardian faith, brands Shiva the Original Heretic—the first to succumb to the temptation of the dragons. Her followers, however, venerate her as a saint who tried, yet failed, to bring together man and dragon through her own selfless sacrifice.

Bahamut
Forgotten for millennia, the elder primal Bahamut was finally freed from his celestial prison Dalamud in the 1572nd year of the Sixth Astral Era through the machinations of the Garlean legatus Nael van Darnus. Unfettered at last, the dreadwyrm unleashed an endless rain of fire on the land, the destruction he wrought ushering in a dark age of death and suffering.

[Belhi]

Things that stuck out for me:

- Mandragora and Behemoths have only been around since the calamity.

- Garuda's text suggests her powers are what causes Garuda to be such a brutal primal rather than it just being part of her nature. Wording seems a bit weird to me.

- Dragons go through a form of evolution as they age which makes older dragons individually unique. Could also account for the diversity of draconic creatures in the Dravanian army.

[treuhavik]

What I find interesting is this; "the Lord of Levin is a thunderous entity with boundless knowledge of ages past."

They specify that he has this knowledge, leading to believe that not all primals share it. This is worrisome for us theorists...

[Anonymoose]

This is worrisome for us theorists...

Aye, I can see someone sculpting a new theory out of the Ramuh and Garuda cards that invokes some of the FFXI lore about the gods once being specific people. My latest progress on the "Primal Theory" was mostly founded on some strange comments Urianger made and old FFXIV trailers, mostly assuming that they weren't entities but simply the essence of the land, sculpted by belief.

To continue seeing things through my lens while also musing this hypothetical new theory, perhaps you need a soul to begin with - something forced to act as a vessel for that essence and belief. The creation of Phoenix used Louisoix's, after all. It'd certainly solve my problem about Shiva's soul being specifically mentioned. Using that framework, perhaps Ramuh was once a living sage, as he was in FFXI, with vast knowledge of the eras. Perhaps Garuda's soul was not broken until fashioned into the body of the Empress of Birds and forced to contain the essence of Vortex.

Now, I know this is a bit ironic, considering that I only recently said that the song Answers is vague enough to be interpreted a thousand ways... but I've felt that, as the theme to Final Fantasy XIV "Season One," that it was mostly about the primals. The primals we've dealt with in this era are the essences of the Land (Inferno, Vortex, et al.), the six facets of Hydaelyn's light.

First previews of FFXIV: The Land will not suffer man's irreverence.
Lyric from answers The Land's alive, so believe.
Hint from Koji that he loves using the word "forsaken" in things relating to the primals.

Could bring "Our souls have been torn, and our bodies forsaken" into the fold of such a theory.

EDIT
If any of that were true, it might not be out of the question that we'd hear from Bahamut again, someday.
Not the primal god of the Meracydians Bahamut, but the actual brood-progenitor Bahamut...

Hmmm. Maybe I should ponder this whole thing some more.

[Nalien]

- Garuda's text suggests her powers are what causes Garuda to be such a brutal primal rather than it just being part of her nature. Wording seems a bit weird to me.

I wonder how that related to the Ixali myth involving her feasting upon the Lord of Snakes turning her brutal against land-bound mortals... Must say I liked that concept more than her power just making her that way... Unless we've got something of an origins story in that mythos, in life she was a hero who defeated the Lord of Snakes, but suffered a serious wound in the process and resorted to feasting upon his carcase, and it resulted in her becoming a Primal. With the power of the Vortex and/or feasting on the carcase of her enemy resulting in her insanity... Fallen Angel indeed...

[Anonymoose]

<Garuda Stuff>

Unless the Lord of Snakes was The Lord of Snakes, a primal, and by feasting on his body, she consumed something aetherial...

DUN DUN DUNNNNNN....

</em fashions a naga-shaped darkteelfoil hat and makes serpentine hand-puppets at Nalien>

I really have no idea, anymore. Most times that I figure something out well ahead of time, I go handily overboard with it, as well. I've stopped trying to guess what's coming and now I just muse on a bunch of random ideas that encompass what we know, and then whittle away the parts that get proven wrong. It's more fun stirring the pot than guessing the ingredients.

[Belhi]

Interesting. Perhaps King Moggle Mog XII was an actual Moggle in ages past. Its just his story ended up getting elaborated on and becoming a myth. From what I've read there is plenty to suggest Bahamut was originally a non primal dragon.

The Blue Dragon description also makes me think that the Au Ra may not simply be a cross breeding of men and dragon. Perhaps they are a family of dragons that long ago 'evolved' into a humanoid form. The text seems to suggest the form and mental capacity of a dragon can vary hugely. All the land based Dravanic creatures we have seen perhaps are actual dragons, not just some type of minion.

[treuhavik]

Aye, I can see someone sculpting a new theory out of the Ramuh and Garuda cards that invokes some of the FFXI lore about the gods once being specific people. My latest progress on the "Primal Theory" was mostly founded on some strange comments Urianger made and old FFXIV trailers, mostly assuming that they weren't entities but simply the essence of the land, sculpted by belief.

Right, we had both speculated that the primals were just an element of the land made being by a race that more or less worshiped their respective element, but this new information couldn't be a bigger wrench there.

To continue seeing things through my lens and also just musing on the idea of this new hypothetical theory, perhaps you need a soul to begin with - something forced to act as a vessel for that essence and belief. The creation of Phoenix used Louisoix's, after all. It'd certainly solve my problem about Shiva's soul being specifically mentioned. Using that framework, perhaps Ramuh was once a living sage, as he was in FFXI, with vast knowledge of the eras. Perhaps Garuda's soul was not broken until forced into the body of the Empress of Birds and forced to contain the essence of Vortex.

Before this patch I was 101% sold on the idea that the primals were once people, beastmen included (or in Fenrir's case, beast) -living or dead- and had been infused with the land's essence, BUT did Ramuh not say that he remembered the time of "balance"? This period of time was before man though, was it not? I'm taking this "balance" as either the incorporeal realm melded with the corporeal or the primordial planet. So, in either case, just what in the hells was he?! I...I need a cigarette.

EDIT: Unless... Unless when Person-Ramuh merged with lightning... N-no, I need more time.

[Anonymoose]

BUT did Ramuh not say that he remembered the time of "balance"?

That's the first thing I thought, too.

Whence sprung this calamitous seed? In the beginning, no such duality existed. Were light and dark given form when man was born? It would explain much. Not least why strife and sorrow follow ever in thy wake. Thou canst not deny the urgings of thine own nature.

I figured this would tie back into the Ascian / Zodiark / Hyadelyn story, in the end.

So, in either case, just what in the hells was he?! I...I need a cigarette.

Lemme know where you get with that! lol