A (Highly Theoretical) Look at the Cycle of the Eras

[Teiren]

The idea of a jar that you keep your soul (or your heart in some fairy tales) is far older that Warcraft. They probably stole the idea from the same place I first ran into the idea, Dungeons and Dragons with a Lich's Phylactery.

Well yeah, even though I never read Lord of the Rings (where I think all common RPG stuff originated from?) or play Dungeons & Dragons, it always felt like Warcraft was just mashing together all the fantasy stuff at the time and not doing anything very original with the parts. I love Warcraft, but I can admit that.

Consuming Nidhogg's eyes raises another question for me; since we know it's inevitable 4.0 will bring a raised level cap (likely 70), will there be an in-universe explanation for us gaining more power? Last time it was our overcoming Middy's seal to gain greater power, will something else happen? Post yer wild speculation!

This reminds me that most of the Level 50-60 Job quests give no explanation why you learn new skills or otherwise gain greater power. It was extremely disappointing. :/ Given how important Midgardsormr and dragons in general were in 2.5 and are in Heavensward, you'd think learning Blood of the Dragon would be a HUGE lore thing, but...there's nothing. They even gave a story reason for learning Battle Litany. Both Black Mage and Summoner gave interesting story reasons for learning new spells along with some of Machinist's actions learned through quests. Everyone else seemed to be left in the dust after Level 50.

[Zohar_Lahar]

This even works during the Allagan calamity, which is another Conquest cycle. If we started on Ice, the Allagan era would start with Lightning and need too much lightning to "boil away" too much of water's influence and invite an Earth calamity. Look what we know about Allag: Too much lightning influence? EH!? EH!?!? It feels like I'm on to more than nothing but I don't quite know if I'm on to something.

Remember what the Spire constellation looks like....

[Anonymoose]

Remember what the Spire constellation looks like....

RIGHT? Dalamud with the Crystal Tower, displayed as the Tower of Byregot assaulted by Rhalgr, with the spitting image of Ramuh. And you know how they give you the order of the heavens in the quest? If you go in reverse (as in, start at Earth, but rotate clockwise for descending Umbral rather than counter for ascending Astral), the Sixth Hell - where the Bomb Baron was said to come from - is fire. There are very few things that don't fit in this framework, and meanwhile the cycle of calamities starting with wind seems to be askew right off the bat.

And yet ... typo.

(-_- )ﾉ ⌒ ┫

[Ametrine]

*pats Moose*

So now that the aforementioned fights are completed, and we know Hreasvelgr did us a solid in our fight with Nidhogg, where do you guys stand with the theory crafts.

[Zohar_Lahar]

For what its worth, "fire from heavens" could create a hypercane, which would be one hell of a wind disaster. Anyone see what the corrected text is in 3.3?

[Anonymoose]

Anyone see what the corrected text is in 3.3?

The last time I checked, they actually hadn't made the change yet, lol.

For what its worth, "fire from heavens" could create a hypercane, which would be one hell of a wind disaster.

I was really hopeful that the lore book might leave some wiggle room for the theory to work but (as far as I can tell) it's in smoldering ruins, lol. Even taking the hypercane into consideration we offset an era towards the beginning while we the old Allag+ sections made sense where they were, I think, right?

Age of the Gods (Original Cosmology?)
A tempestuous time of uncontrolled creation overseen by mercurial god(s) until everything in existence ended.

First Umbral Era (Wind)
Is this tied to the end of existence? Seems like it, but unconfirmed.
Like the OP to this thread, the lore book suggests that perhaps the event from Moghome mythology refers to this calamity.

First Astral Era Age of Man
Either mankind immediately rises in the ashes, seeded by Hydaelyn, or simple mortal life emerges through Her and aether and evolves from there. Whether it started 20,000, or 1,000,000 (or 4,000,000,000) years ago, Hydaelyn's new favorite children eventually get a foothold. The era is defined by stone and fire; metallurgy and civilization give rise to weapons of war and the era collapses in flames towards...

Second Umbral Era (Lightning)
The skies blacken; volcanoes and lightning destroy all as mankind retreats into the earth to die in tomb-like caves until they discover prayer, through prayer arrive at primitive magicks, which help them survive into

Second Astral Era
Salvation through faith leads to a world in which theology is held above all. Goldsmithing and painting lead to massive temples to the gods, and steel is made to defend them. This power corrupts the religious leaders; holy wars, witch hunts, and cleansing led the world to fall into...

Third Umbral Era (Fire)
Mankind looks more to war and riches than crops and safety, and when the sun swells and the land burns, they have little resilience to the threat.

So the theory as it stands seems pretty dead.

Then again, if we just nudge the start point a bit... the First Astral Era overdid it on the fire after wind ... could it have ended a hidden era of ice, after all?! Maybe we just need to spend another several days adjusting the theory!

Okay. OKAY. I'm gonna grab my shotglass-compass, my old powerpoint presentation, several energy drinks, and some darksteelfoil. You guys get some Nutella, a tennis racket, and a paissa, and then meet me at the Drowning Wench.

Waaait.

C-Corvin? ... Would that be a waste of time?

Corvin? Buddy?

...Puddin'?



(It's probably doomed.)
JK. THIS IS NOW HAPPENING.

[Erudito]

Hey guys, how valid is it to make a reference to elemental calamities recorded in other FF games? Could it stand some ground in this game? Maybe it can give us a clue? The disasters I am talking about are the ones mentioned to have happened in the world of FF12 and were given to us as lore pieces for hunting down enough entite sphere monsters.

Here is the ice disaster lore bit mentioned in the FF12 when you beat enough Ice (Leshach) Entites:

Long ago, the gods looked down upon the warring peoples of this land and were displeased. Wishing to contain their violence, the gods arrested time upon the battlefield, thinking to imprison those who fought there. But violence would not be so contained. It spread beyond its confines, contaminating other lands, and soon conflict was rampant once again. In their grief, the gods made a scourging blizzard to rage, and when the blizzard lifted, men looked to the skies and found they were alone. This fateful tumult is said to have given birth to the leshach entite.

Yes? No? Maybe? Just throwing out ideas and see if anything sticks.

[Morningstar1337]

Hey guys, how valid is it to make a reference to elemental calamities recorded in other FF games? Could it stand some ground in this game? Maybe it can give us a clue? The disasters I am talking about are the ones mentioned to have happened in the world of FF12 and were given to us as lore pieces for hunting down enough entite sphere monsters.

Well the recent Calamity was a reference to VII and Meteor, but I think that more due to Garlemald's involvement than anything

[Zohar_Lahar]

All the calamities seem to be based on end-of-the-world scenarios:

1st Umbral Era = Hypercane....?
2nd Umbral Era = Extreme lightning and volcanism
3rd Umbral Era = Solar Flare
4th Umbral Era = Great Earthquake
5th Umbral Era = Snowball Earth
6th Umbral Era = The Deluge
7th Umbral Era = Impact Event (with a side-order of kaiju)

One only wonders what Nabriales, Lahabrea, and Igeyorhm hoped to cause with the Eighth Rejoining.

[Rocl]

https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/War_in_Heaven ?

The idea of holy/angelic beings fighting a dragon is pretty spot on, imo. I'm no Biblical scholar though.