Patch 3.4 - Soul Surrender

[Anonymoose]

MAIN SCENARIO

Looking like Ilberd isn't a bad guess for who was approaching that Masks uniform suspiciously. He could be planning to hijack the movement. Though, while that may be the popular theory, it could just as easily be a reformation of the Ala Mhigan Kingsguard (aka Corpse Brigade). If I recall correctly, the second-in-command looks quite similar. Either way, the Masks seem suspiciously well-funded / official, so I'm looking forward to that.

And for translations, we have Soul Surrender, Soul Inheritors, Soul Guardians, and Soul Legacy...

XELPHATOL

Something seems off about that blurb. I have 550 years ago as when the Ixal settled the Black Shroud from the newspaper release in 2012.

Some 550 years in the past, the Ixal chose the forest of Tinolqa* as their homeland. The stories say they built their nests in its trees, and, spreading their wings to the wind, were able to soar among the branches. Even in this ancient time, the Ixal, feeling kinship with the creatures of the sky, revered Garuda as the Empress of Birds. During this age of prosperity the feathered beastmen flourished and multiplied, overflowing the borders of their territory. Their unchecked growth, however, angered the elementals, and the Ixal were cast out of the forest. The exiled birdmen, in search of a new place to roost, migrated en masse to the great canyon known as Xelphatol.

Did they settle, overpopulate, and get expelled from the Twelveswood all in one generation...? I'd assume 1.0 has the error, that they lived in the Shroud until 550 years ago. It gives them time for Natalan to warp their physiology, and it'd time their expulsion with roughly the first contact between Gelmorra and the Elementals, which you'd have to imagine would really annoy the Ixal; Gridania emerges just as they exit? That's bound to create some bad blood.

Looks like the Warrior of Darkness will be in on this, as well, considering we keep meeting at primals.

[Nalien]

Did they settle, overpopulate, and get expelled from the Twelveswood all in one generation...?

Possibly... To overpopulate they don't necessarily need to reproduce, they could have just started migrating en mass following the discovery of "Tinolqa" after deciding its their new homeland... They have to have come from somewhere before hand, after all, we know quite a bit about their origins at this point, although there are still some pretty big gaps... Wonder if Azys Lla will come up at all in this encounter, now that I think about it... It's also possible that the Allagan made them to reproduce and develop fairly quickly, given that would only be a benefit to their intended purpose, so that could also account for a rapid overpopulation problem, assuming such a trait hadn't degraded at that point...

Could also just have been an interpretation of events... I guess the Seedseers might know the Elementals motives, but rather than being run out for overpopulating and expanding, the Elementals could have just recognized them as Allagan and slapped a big fat "Nope!" on them for it... People see a new tribe moving in and growing, Elementals push back for reasons, people assume it's because they've done something wrong... Would actually be great if this was all just a misunderstanding... After Ul'dah, Gridania (and Limsa) really need more flaws to be highlighted... Having the Elementals start a conflict with the Ixali, just because the Elementals are racist against Allagan constructs, while Gridania justifies it with "They were expanding too quickly and damaging the forest!", when they may not have been the case... That could be fun... Is it bad that I want Hydrus to actually have a point when he calls us savages? I don't want Eorzea to be as idyllic as it perhaps currently is...

[Anonymoose]

Wonder if Azys Lla will come up at all in this encounter, now that I think about it...

I'm hoping that they tie it back to Garuda's origin story, if so.

The Empress of Birds who defeated the Lord of Snakes: Ixal vs. Lamia during the exodus from "Ayatlan"?

[Nalien]

I'm hoping that they tie it back to Garuda's origin story, if so.

The Empress of Birds who defeated the Lord of Snakes: Ixal vs. Lamia during the exodus from "Ayatlan"?

I still really want this to tie back to Midgardsormr... I'm so bothered by his complete lack of presence during the Allagan reign... They built an end-of-the-world tower next to his lake for crying out loud! Never mind what they did to his kids... Gaius was just happily flying over the lake and he gets is ass handed to him for it... I don't get that wyrms motives...

Having the Lord of Snakes instead be the Lord of Wyrms, though... Well... That kills two birds with one stone... The Allag would have done battle with him, presumably in much the same way Gaius did, and presumably because he attempted to deny them flight... Those ships would have been full of Iksalion for maintenance... The battle is won, though many ships fell, but "Garuda" claims her prize and harvests Midgardsormrs corpse and that unlocked Neurolink development for the Allag... That blob of flesh in the Neurolink Nacelle? Cloned Midgardsormr... That sends out the signal that compels dragons to obey the Allag via Neurolinks... That's three birds with one stone! I'm offending some many Ixali right now...

That's almost certainly absurd though... More likely a Ixal vs. Lamia style thing, but again I'd bring it back to the Allag... Perhaps because Garuda is much more human than she should otherwise be... Having the Empress of Birds be the mother of the Ixali, as in the one who developed the Iksalion (and Mirrorknight/etc.) project, while the Lord of Snakes developed the Lamia (and Shabti/etc.) project... That sounds fun to me... A battle over project funding, to the death! The titles, just office slurs! The threat? Grounding their research!