A Brief History of the Black Shroud

[Enkidoh]

This is fascinating! Out of curiosity, when were the Keepers of Moon (Miqo'te) and the people of the Gridania able to put aside their differences? Also, the Duskwights are descendants of Elezen who split with the Wildwood clan during the founding Gridania, can you shed any light upon why they split, the individuals involved in the split, and what the relations are between the two people today?

The Keepers of the Moon haven't entirely submitted to Gridanian society as a whole though - most actually live illegally outside the city in the forest becoming poachers and bandits. It's only those who agree to abide by Gridania's laws and respect the forest and the elementals' will that are allowed inside the city. As for the duskwight, this is what the main FFXIV site says on the subject as to when they split from the wildwood:

For the past several centuries, the Duskwight Elezen have lived in the woodland caverns of Eorzea. These cave-dwelling Elezen are the descendants of a branch that split from the main Wildwood clan during the founding of Gridania.

So based on that, it seems the duskwight originated at Gridania's founding, presumably those who were content to remain underground in Gelmorra for whatever reason, and over the centuries, their troglodytic nature physically changed them enough to become a seperate clan to the 'main' wildwood elezen (of course, the Ishgardian elezen could be now considered a third seperate clan, but that's another barrel of moogles ).

And speaking of moogles, there is no explanation as to when moogles first arrived and settled within the Black Shroud, but the more I think of the Good King Moggle Mog the XIIth myth, and what Heavensward showed, I'm wondering if there is actually a shred a truth in that myth, aka, the King using a 'golden thread' to allow his moogle followers to settle on the land below. Golden thread stretching from the 'heavens' to the land below... hmmm.. where have I seen something like that before... Oh! The transporter from Halo in the Dravanian Forelands up to Sohm Al and the Churning Mists!

Where there just happens to be Moghome, the original homeland of mooglekind, which is ruled by a literal king (okay a chieftain, but he's one step away from being a king!). It's clear the moogles of the Black Shroud's story of Good King Moggle Mog is actually a cultural memory of when the moogles arrived on the surface from Moghome by using the transporter in Halo, gradually changing with each retelling into something else over the centuries living in the Black Shroud. Either way, it's an interesting theory to look more into.

The forest is under the protection of the elementals that live there, and woe betide anyone they see as a threat to this land’s peace. Even the forest itself has a kind of sentience, manifested by the Guardian Tree in the Central Shroud. It is notorious for its loathing of those non-Gridanians who have lived without care for the natural world, something known as ‘woodsin’. Woodsin is liable to incur Greenwrath – that is to say, the anger of the forest and its natural denizens – and folk guilty of woodsin are a danger to others around them. They must be cleansed by a ritual before they are allowed to remain in the Twelveswood.

It should be noted that for some unfortunate souls, at least prior to the Calamity, there were plenty of instances that those who had awakened the greenwrath and had gained so much woodsin, no amount of rituals would be enough to save them, and they would then be cast out into the forest, becoming an exile known as a 'wildling'. Of course the truth was a little more murky than that, but there was also instances of certain individuals actually becoming 'claimed' by the elementals, being literally incapable of living in the city. I'm not sure of the details, but there was a story that Moose knows the details about in references to a 'Brother Morty' whom awoke the woodsin and became virtually the forest's prisoner - apparently every time he tried to return to Gridania the forest literally dragged him back, kicking and screaming. He thus became an emissary between the elementals and Gridania's government, although I am uncertain if he was actually a padjal or not. As I said I know little about the specifics of this particular case, but Moose does so Moose please feel free to clarify or criticize me on this!

In fact, even though the elementals gave permission for Gridania to be settled, the forest's wrath could still be a serious danger to everyone residing in the city, and thus the CNJs of Gridania formed the Hedge, a kind of loose network of blessed trees that form an aetheric barrier over the city and the surrounding forest to prevent latent woodsin festering on anyone who enters it (such as a traveller from another city). Naturally this tended to weaken at times (i.e. the time Yda and Papalymo first arrived in the city on orders from Louisoix in 1562 6AE to investigate reports that Gridania was preparing for war with the Empire, or the time the player first arrived there in version 1.0 some ten years later, although due to the Echo this made them think it was the same event), resulting in the woodsin zeroing in on whomever happens to be walking past at the time, necessitating a Cleansing Rite (this was just a ritual dance where the person so affected dances to please the elementals and hopefully transfer the woodsin into a ritual object, specifically a mask).

Of course the Calamity caused such widespread destruction in the Black Shroud, it virtually rendered the Hedge 'offline' so to speak, and thus it's Hedgetrees exist now 'five years later' as more pockets of elemental potency (and thus, the elementals' protection) than actually being an effective barrier against woodsin.

The Gridanians and the Ixali appeared to live alongside each other quite peacefully during this period. However the Ixali had prospered so well that their numbers had grown enormously. They were also given to chopping down trees in the Twelveswood for their rituals of worship and their rites of passage; very likely the elementals grew angered by this. Whatever the reason, at some point the Ixali were banished from the Twelveswood by the elementals. This is possibly the basis for their loathing and hatred of the Gridanians. Certainly, ever since that time, the two have been constantly at odds, although they appeared to live in peace together previously.

Apparently this happened before the founding of Gridania - an early ARR quest in Hyrstmill has a Wood Wailer state this in no uncertain terms, the tense he used strongly suggests that Ixal had already been driven out of the forest before the Gelmorrans managed to negotiate with the elementals to live on the surface, and it was pure and out jealousy on the Ixals' part that led to their resentment of Gridania. But the actual truth is unknown at this stage, at least from what I am aware.