Meracydia/Miqo'te/Azys La speculations (spoilers)

[CGMidlander]

It may have been brought up already, but I wonder:

If Miqo'te are related directly to the Allagans then perhaps their current selective breeding practices are a remnant of genetic engineering? I envision the Allagan as encouraging the races they experimented with/created to breed with the best possible option to keep their race strong.

I'm pretty sure there are plenty of people, even IRL, who would jump at the chance at producing catgirls once we have the capabilities

[Fenral]

There's a certain dubiously-famous Japanese visual novel in which humanity, in order to better survive in post-apocalyptic conditions after some unspecified disaster, ended up gene-splicing humanity with cats to produce a new race that, among other things, exceeded humanity in inherent athletic ability and was able to go for days at a time without eating. Add in a snarky catboy protagonist with memory issues who unwillingly inherited some sort of special purpose from both the precursor race and his (asshole) father and it starts feeling very familiar...

But that would be entirely too silly a thing for a mainstream game to reference intentionally, not to mention there are already tiny snippets of lore that suggest that all the spoken races have existed since at least the First Astral Era, long before the Allagan Empire. But since cultural memory rarely, if ever, survives a Calamity entirely intact, it's hard to know for sure. Dalamud says "hi."

[Sapphic]

Just throwing this out there. description of the Crozier from the Alchemist quests:

Though labeled a crozier by the Sons of Saint Coinach who unearthed the relic, it is unlikely this crooked staff was used for religious purposes, as it is well documented that most late Third Astral Era Allagans abandoned the theological in order to pursue the technological.

Intersting points is it shows that the Allagans where religious initially until the pursuit of technology changed their path. But it also states that most, not all, abandoned Religion.

Which puts out an interesting idea. Was the uprising within the Allagan empire caused by conflicts in beliefs between the still existing Theologicans and the Technologists?

If the temple at Azys Lla was original Allagan before they followed the pursuit of technology, could it have been ripped from the ground along with the rest to finally put religion behind them, to make a statement that Technology is more powerful than religion? Could it have been, as Theologicans may see it as defilement, one, if not THE, spark that initiated conflict (assuming there was one) between the 2, for want of a better term, factions?

Addendum:
The Crozier was used to "create life" by the Allagans. Imagine a religious order finding out that they were delving into the "realm of gods".

It may be conjecture based on limited knowledge, but I dont think it is unfeasible either.

[Zohar_Lahar]

But that would be entirely too silly a thing for a mainstream game to reference intentionally, not to mention there are already tiny snippets of lore that suggest that all the spoken races have existed since at least the First Astral Era, long before the Allagan Empire. But since cultural memory rarely, if ever, survives a Calamity entirely intact, it's hard to know for sure. Dalamud says "hi."

Can we even be sure any of the currently known spoken races were around in the first astral era?

[Frederick22]

Can we even be sure any of the currently known spoken races were around in the first astral era?

Yes Hyurs and Elezens, they were tribes. I suspect that those 2 races, not just Hyur were allagans. Amon looks like an elezen, check his ears

[Fenral]

Can we even be sure any of the currently known spoken races were around in the first astral era?

A particular unreleased lore snippet (from the scrapped Lore loading screens) mentions that some Keeper family names have been passed down from the First Astral Era. So that "confirms" the existence of Miqo'te in those days, but only as well as well as Dalamud was "known" to have always existed (before space-time itself was retconned by a certain Wandering Minstrel).

[WyrahFhurrst]

Can we even be sure any of the currently known spoken races were around in the first astral era?

It's likely that they were. Racial tension could very well been the arguments that caused the First Umbral Era, ending the Age of Gods. We do know that legend says the Twelve ended it when the tribes began to war with one another, which could be done easily between races that were only then "tribes." The conflict could have caused them to spread out across Hydaelyn, and forget about one another for a while at least.

Kind of a side note: We also know the Ascians take credit for that Calamity, so maybe they caused the arguing or at least helped it along? Twelve Ascians taking credit of the Calamity, the Twelve ending the Age of Gods... I feel like there's a connection somehow... But I don't know in what way...

[Fenral]

Kind of a side note: We also know the Ascians take credit for that Calamity, so maybe they caused the arguing or at least helped it along?

I think the Ascians try to take credit for all the Calamities, don't they? Even though most of the stories we know, even first-person accounts, don't include any mentions of shady robed figures.

[WyrahFhurrst]

I think the Ascians try to take credit for all the Calamities, don't they? Even though most of the stories we know, even first-person accounts, don't include any mentions of shady robed figures.

That's the point of them though, right? To manipulate unseen and unknown, but cause great strife. At least that seems to be their MO.

[Fenral]

Clearly the only way to satisfy everyone on this matter is to harness the energy of the Crystal Tower to open a time portal to the end of the Third Astral Era for our very own Wings of the Goddess-type time-travel adventure, battling Ascians in the twilight of the Allagan Empire!



(I'd much prefer a Chrono Trigger-style jaunt through multiple calamities, actually, given a choice. There are so many other interesting periods to explore, even though the superadvanced self-destructing precursor race is kind of the gift that keeps on giving in a magipunk setting like FFXIV's.)