Quote Originally Posted by Cilia View Post
It's a bit odd, but I wasn't aware that it was a hard and fast rule that "Student of Baldesion" = Important in the Main Scenario. It's just unusual to meet one, since the Students are from Sharlayan which is a traditionally neutral nation. (Think Switzerland.)
That's precisely why I think it's odd. It would be one thing if we ran into a small group of Students out on an expedition somewhere, at some point, just doing their Baldesion thing in a small side-story with phat lootz and exp to reward us for stopping to say hi (I actually expected to see one in Heavensward). It's quite another when [kupo] starts going down with the Students in the MSQ and, lo and behold, in that very same patch we have a Student of Baldesion, and the first with a name and somewhat-unique model, at that, dropping in to hang out with a number of known, voiced NPCs from the main scenario. Ramnbroes actually even cites the Isle of Val incident when calling BS on Doga and Unei's shabby cover story, but that's the last anyone mentions of it, and the entire thing is simply forgotten once the hook has served its purpose.

Sure, there's no rule, and sure, it's a subversion of our expectations, but what does that subversion actually accomplish for the purposes of world cohesiveness and the ongoing narrative? I suppose there's always a possibility of an upcoming Postmoogle quest where the Students send Ramnbroes a letter asking when they can expect to have their observer back, but until then, it's really just a weird convergence of outliers that's just sort of sitting there on a small, isolated island in an otherwise connected setting. There has to be a connection somewhere, at some point, right?