Gerun Oracles

[Alisa180]

All this talk about Eorzea's moon makes me think of some random, possibly significant, musings I've had.

In Eorzea's mythology, the goddess of the moon, Menphina, actually has some notable connections to Harlone, the goddess of war and the patron deity of Ishgard. Both of them are associated with the element of ice, and both of their marks are located in the Coerthas Central Highlands. And to quote from the Astrologian questline:

"The Spear is the gate to the sixth heaven, where the Fury resides in a palace of ice carved by Her own spear─ice formed of moonbeams collected by the Lover, Menphina."

I think the point I'm trying to make is, if there are significant going-ons with the moon, its only natural that it would crop up during the Ishgard expansion, given the links between Harlone and Menphina, if I'm making any sense here. (Also, Dragonsong makes mention of the 'lover's moon' in reference to Hraesvelgr and Shiva, for whatever that's worth).

On a broader note, I just noticed something else. Each of the Twelve have either an 'Astral' or 'Umbral' association. And I was going to write more about it here, but I think what I was about to write verges into 'reading too much into it' territory. Or maybe not. Its hard to tell.

I play/half-RP a Keeper of the Moon, complete with having chosen Menphina as her guardian. Some of the thoughts thrown around regarding the moon bring up some...uncomfortable questions regarding her faith. For all of its disparging of faith in many ways, such as Ishgard's reverence of King Thordan and the Knights Twelve, in other ways the game has been surprisingly respectful of it. To quote Lucia:

LUCIA
This is it, then? Go well, my friend. I shall pray to the Fury for your preservation.
...Hm? Mayhap you think it strange that a daughter of Garlemald should pray? I do not blame you─I used to think it passing strange myself.
But that all changed when I discovered something dearer to me than mine own life. Thereafter, praying seemed the most natural thing in the world.

I think the point I'm trying to make is, the dev team can't do anything *too* radical with the moon, or they risk destabilizing faith in Menphina. Which would bring up all kinds of lore tangles, most prominently with Keepers. It doesn't help that Keepers are one of the most 'spiritually attuned' races, which is likely why they have the highest base MIND rating. The lore team has been meticulous enough that I suspect they're aware of this as well. It will be interesting to see how they handle it. (Or maybe I'm reading too much into this. But I still think the fact that the moon is a significant part of a playable race's lore is something that should be considered when theorizing.)

(I was only half-awake when I wrote this so apologies if its not very coherent.)

[Nalien]

snip

I actually had a thought on this...

From the poems various translations, I get a sense that Hydaelyn, in an age before man, spread Her children among the sea, which I'm assuming to be space. What if "Her children" are the Twelve? Each one having their own section of space to own, with Menphinas including the moon, Halones being the sixth heaven, etc.

We've got a myth where Midgardsormr was "created" by Althyk and Nymeia, and we've got a fact that he came from spaaaaaaaaaace. Something I've been pondering since the Astrologian lore gave us the various celestial gates actually...

So, before time, for fear of Zodiark, Hydaelyn spreads Her children (the Twelve) across the sea, splitting it into fourteen (the Twelve, Hydaelyn, Zodiark). At some point, Althyk and Nymeia collaborate to send Midgardsormr back to Hydaelyn. Why? Well, if the moon is part of Menphinas domain, and it's now a dead rock with a statue of Zodiark on it... Perhaps the Ascians didn't just go after Hydaelyn...

What's more, we've currently got six heavens, which combine an elements/Twelve Astral and Umbral versions... As if they've been joined... Given everything should have been split and given duality... One might say they underwent a... Rejoining...