Gathering Lore Questions for the Fan Festival in Las Vegas!

[RahfaelFavinco]

As to my question:

I am curious on what the current state of Meracydia is.

Seconded as a question. I'd gotten the impression it was the magical version of a nuclear wasteland, but then again, it's been thousands of years since then, so it might be habitable again. And, as one of my FC mates pointed out, in 3.4's Sophia questline, Urianger has a strange commentary on the words of the thralls:

"'Twas a Meracydian dialect[...]though one that beareth scant resemblance to any spoken in recent times." This seems to imply that either there are people living in Meracydia, or that ancient Meracydian languages still exist and are spoken today.

[Naraku_Diabolos]

What lies beyond Griffin's Crossing (or whatever the gate is in Coerthas Central Highlands)? Will we ever go beyond that gate? And what about other areas that are closed off? Will we ever have a chance to go beyond those areas with a new setting and storyline?

[RahfaelFavinco]

As for my questions:

Is there any particular reason for Menphina, the Greater Moon, and Dalamud, the Lesser Moon, to both be antagonistic? One is Zodiark, the other an Allagan prison for Dalamud. Me and my friends joke that Yoshi-P has a grudge against moons in general, but it does strike me as strange.

In 1.0, what appears to be an Ascian Prime appears solely for the purpose of spooking the Amal'jaa. Why did this necessitate two or more Ascians to fuse for what isn't even a combat purpose? I'd think this would be a leftover weird lore bit from whatever the original plan for XIV was, but the reappearance of the weird skeletal creature described as an Ascian in 1.0 as the final boss of the Aetherochemical Research Facility, and being explicitly confirmed to be an Ascian despite that particular appearance not having been used since 1.0, makes me wonder.

[RahfaelFavinco]

Speaking of 1.0 and possible lore leftovers:

Can you share with us any of the original Tanaka-era plan for XIV storywise? I remember hearing something about how Dalamud was still going to have a large part, possibly even with the player going to its surface like the moon in FFIV.

What happened to the Path Companion after Futures Perfect? We never saw them again. Speaking of that quest, how were Y'shtola and the other Circle of Knowing members able to appear before the player afterwards while not physically being there? Were they intended to be dead and appearing as ghosts?

What do we make of the Garleans a) somehow being able to brainwash Eorzeans in a way suspiciously similar to Primal tempering and b) Doing this despite their opposition to Primals and everything they do and stand for? (I forget which quest this was, but I think it was in between hitting level 40 and unlocking Futures Perfect)

[RahfaelFavinco]

Who killed Niellefresne and why? Also what happened to Nielle's brother, Colbernaux? The current GSM guildmaster mentions that she took over after some sort of sordid affair, but what?

What was the deal with Corguevais? Was he supposed to be an Ascian like Travanchet? I remember we were told to look closely during cutscenes with him in them, but IIRC he DID have a shadow, so I don't know...

The final tier of Alexander's questline has the return of the horn from the 1.0 Limsa storyline. Is this not the same horn as the other "key" besides Tuspimati that Nabriales mentioned in 2.5? I remember that the horn was referred to as a "key" by Travanchet. Speaking of which, what was his deal? Was he a minor Ascian with Travanchet as his actual name, or one of the 13 major ones possessing the real Travanchet's body?

Will the Gridanian 1.0 questline ever come up again? Ul'dah has, as Ascilia/Minfilia and F'lahminn referred to it plenty. And as of 3.4, Limsa's has as well.

[RahfaelFavinco]

Is there any particular reason for Emperor Xandes, mentioned in 1.0, becoming Xande in ARR, other than to make the direct reference to FFIII? Or was that retconned into "The Tomb of Xandes" or whatever it was called housing two Allagan emperors named Xande? Though seeing as the latter Xande was a resurrection of the original, and he didn't die (and therefore wasn't buried) until we, the player, killed him, that still doesn't make sense.

Can you confirm once and for all Nael van Darnus' original gender and race?

Is the catastrophe that wiped out the Students of Baldesion bar Krile ever gonna be revisited? Or are we just assuming it was Ascians preventing research into the Rejoining and just leaving it at that? (I'd ask the same for Omega Weapon, but the last main scenario cutscene in 3.4 makes me think that's definitely gonna come up again.)

[RahfaelFavinco]

If every quest happens in the patch it's released in, what of quests released more than once? Did the ARR job quests (minus SCH and SMN, which definitely happened in 2.0, and NIN, happening in 2.4) just happen in 2.0, and not in 1.21, and are an exception to the rule? (I'd think so, but I thought I'd bring it up)

Was Gaius' name originally Gaius? He wasn't given a name till the Seventh Umbral Era storyline, IIRC, and people called him Zulvan for quite some time. (Not to be confused with Zurvan, the Demon of the Warring Triad)

[RahfaelFavinco]

Where was the WoL before coming to Eorzea in either 1.0 or 2.0? Surely they must have been coming from somewhere else - they apparently aren't native to Eorzea. I know you can't give too much details on such matters, lest it conflict with people's ideas for their characters, but isn't the fact that they came to Eorzea from somewhere else already in contradiction with many players own backstories? And I don't know a lot of successful RPers who actually have their characters be the WoL that the main scenario portrays them as, either.

[RahfaelFavinco]

I bring the last question up because some people theorize that the canonical WoL backstory might be "construct created by Hydaelyn" (tempered by Hydaelyn through the Echo is another popular one), and the Word of the Mother's dialogue near the end of the patch implies that you, the Word herself, and the Warriors of Darkness are the equivalent of the Ascians, which would make us an embodiment of Hydaelyn, if not to the extent that the Word became after Hydaelyn absorbed Minfilia. (How that happened is unclear...though if what the Warriors of Darkness said about immortality is true, Minfilia could have stayed behind when the WoL fled Ul'dah only to die and have her aether absorbed by Hydaelyn directly instead of just dissipating into the lifestream.)

That's all my questions for now.

[DarthSanguine]

I just fought the Warriors of Darkness, which I thought were essentially the Warrior of Light and his band from the trailers. Their black mage spoke. And it was not female.
Just.. what happened?

A mistake was made when making the End of an Era trailer. The Black Mage was supposed to be the male Elezen, but they used the female's model instead. (Like how we have Hraesvelgr attacking Ishgard in the Heavensward trailer instead of Nidhogg.)