Goddess Sophia Lore posted.

[Nestama]

Rather, if it's a multicultural religion, how did they get along long enough without her to summon her in the first place? Did she originate with one culture and eventually they tempered the others into it?

What if someone with the Echo summoned her? Like Ysayle did with Shiva. Person with the Echo wanted peace and harmony amongst the races in their city and with however amount of crystals they had on hand, summoned Sophia. Now the question is, did she temper the people? or did she coerce them with fear? Anger a Goddess by breaking her newly applied laws and you'd quickly find yourself judged.

[Jojozan]

Okay, I was running off Sophia being a life/death/rebirth(zombie) type, not a balance type. This changes things....

Firstly, I am culturally disinclined to trust anything described as "gilded chains". I feel it also points to a second thing the Allagans might have pulled from Sophia. Considering the Fractal Continuum and the beings inside -

Sephirot - Aspect: Growth - used for forced gigantism, and rapid growth.
Sophia - Aspect: Balance/Equilibrium/Harmony - used for getting gene-spliced organisms to work, and might have been useful for neurolinks.

So Sephirot's power lets them grow their experiments in a short time frame, while Sophia's power lets them merge different organisms together and possibly control them (Owlbears anyone?). So what does the Demon Zurvan contribute? Consumption? Absorption? Violation of Rules?

As a final note, assuming the game lore is still relevant, I have to wonder if Fiend's lyrics might be about Sophia and then Zurvan.

[Hinoto-no-Ryuji]

As a final note, assuming the game lore is still relevant, I have to wonder if Fiend's lyrics might be about Sophia and then Zurvan.

I dunno, Fiend's lyrics are probably just about Sephirot, if they follow the established pattern of Primal songs up until now (and there's no real reason to assume they don't).

[Ametrine]

I dunno, Fiend's lyrics are probably just about Sephirot, if they follow the established pattern of Primal songs up until now (and there's no real reason to assume they don't).

Unless he's trying to pull her worshippers away to follow him instead.

[Neophyte]

Not much to input so far, but I'd just like to posit that, despite being potentially(?) older than Bahamut Prime, the Warring Triad does not need followers kept in torpor to sustain them. At least as far as we know, anyway. Did we get any info on this? It could be a clue as to what distinguishes an Eikon from a Primal. Perhaps an Eikon is self-sustaining? Would make some sense, as someone mentioned that at least one Eikon is bound to a physical object (Odin) and another is hinted at being a living thing (Sephirot).

Also, I think the Garleans are using an antiquated term improperly. The primals the Allag dealt with were definitely Eikons. But since the Battle of Silvertear Skies, primals as we know them have emerged. Primals are Primals and Eikons are Eikons, but to the Garleans, they're one in the same.

Edit: terrible terrible typos

That's what i meant with "Eikons are maybe "real" gods, while Primals are only imagined ones".
The power of an icon might be dependend on the belief of the followers, but it doesn't seem that necessary as for primals.
Bahamut got restored/sustained by Allagan tech, but not without at least thousands of dragons/worshippers.
Where are Sephirot or Sophias believer? As far as I see it, there had been no need to capture a thousand tree-people to sustain the chained Sephiroth and I don't think we will find a thousand (or even a dozen) of stasis-kept elezen/Roes/etc. who do that for Sophia and on top of that a thousand of [...] worshipping Zurvan.

After all, this seems to be the one real difference represented in the game.
Odin: No worshippers right now, Sephirot: No worshippers right now, Sophia: No worshippers right now. Zurvan: I guess.. no worshippers right now?

This would have some implications on the garleans, too. Since they're focussed to conquer all beast tribes to get rid of primals, how would they react if there is still a way of primal-like beings able to manifest/sustain by themselves.


Edit: Ok, after considering this

We actually have Unukalhai telling us there were some Sephirot's worshipers kept in torpor nearby after our confrontation with the eikon. So I'm not so sure this is it.

maybe not. ^^
But it seems odd that they are in a state which prevents them from summoning (not like the dragons in Dalamud, who did exactly this until we turned the machines off) but still Sephiroth was sustained for thousands of years. It might just be slackness of devs, but Coils focussed so hard on "turn those machines off to dry out Bahamut's aether supplies", it's a bit odd.

[RobinMalvin]

But it seems odd that they are in a state which prevents them from summoning (not like the dragons in Dalamud, who did exactly this until we turned the machines off) [/i]", it's a bit odd.

Actually both Bahamut's and Sephirot's followers are kept in torpor, kept in a condition between life and death, suffering for eternity. Their prayers to their gods to free them from their suffering is what sustain both the summons. Only after we turned the machines that the captive Meracydian dragons finally got their slumber. The fate of the captive tree-beings isn't specified if I recall, but I suspect Unukalhai and Krile also did the same thing and freed them from their suffering.

If the same thing also happened to the followers of Sophia, I think that's what angers her; her children are doomed for eternity and she could do nothing to help them.

I guess Allag technology was so advanced that they could give some form of immortality to otherwise mortal beings, even if it was twisted and doomed immortality.

[myahele]

In the latest preview we can see a closer look at the adds:



So the Roegadyn is wearing Glasya Lebolas gear, the CNJ (hyur?) is wearing Scyllas gear

[Nalien]

So the Roegadyn is wearing Glasya Lebolas gear, the CNJ (hyur?) is wearing Scyllas gear

I think this might be further evidence that the Warring Triad was used to augment the Crystal Tower enemies... I don't think that Scyllas' gear can have originated from Meracydia given the chimera inspired aspects of it... To me this implies that these thralls were somehow related to the enemies in Crystal Tower... Sephirot being used to grant all the bosses their bigness seems obvious, perhaps Sophia was used to control somehow? Interestingly the Triple Warring Triad control in ARF is a giant Neurolink... We've got nothing on Zurvan yet, but if he has any relation to time... Well, aside from perhaps being too similar to Alexander, that could well explain how Amon managed to put Crystal Tower into a five thousand year stasis...

It's a shame they're still not doing anything with the Crystal Tower story... There is quite obviously some relation between the tower and the Triad now, hope they'll do what they're doing with the MSQ and actually acknowledge that Crystal Tower happened in the Triad story, if you've cleared it... I mean... We killed Xandes... Shouldn't the Triad be happy with us for that?

It's Yu-Gi-Oh all over again. xD

Whoops lol, I think I'll blame that one on reading about the Triple Triad Battlehall...

[Alberel]

Interestingly the Triple Triad control in ARF is a giant Neurolink...

It's Yu-Gi-Oh all over again. xD

On a more serious note though, that picture also shows a mechanic we didn't see in the trailer. There are two meteors in the back which appear to be descending on some device supported by three chains. I wonder if this might be how we predict which direction the platform will tip.

[Nestama]

snip

Considering the Hyur isn't wearing the head piece, I think it's safe to assume it could be Meracydian gear. This can imply that Glasya and Scylla were either natives to the city Sophia ruled and betrayed her in one way or another, or the two fooled Sophia into believing they were harbingers of peace.

Is there any lore behind Scylla and Glasya? Also just noticed the Elezen in the trailer is wearing Phlegethon gear. From his Triple Triad card: "Phlegethon was a hero of the rebellion that sought to oppose the rule of Allag in the twilight of the Third Astral Era. After his capture by the technologist Amon, the valiant general was subjected to hideous experiments, his body altered and mind broken, fated to become an eternal guardian of the Crystal Tower." Hmmm... maybe I'm partially wrong and Phlegethon, Scylla and Glasya are originally from Meracydia and chose to rebel against the Allag, rather than assimilate.