A question about Miqo'te (Possible spoilers if not at Azim Steppe yet)

[Kinkoz]

Couple things here.

The world of Hydaelyn is made up of three separate, major continents: Aldenard to the West (in which the realm of Eorzea is present), Ilsabard to the North (where the Garlean Empire originates from), and Othard to the East.

It's believed that, at some point during the Fifth Umbral Era in which the entire world was subjected to a deep freeze not unlike a major ice age, the oceans between Aldenard and Ilsabard were frozen solid, thus allowing Miqo'te tribes situated on the southern edge of Ilsabard to migrate over to Aldenard. However, it's stated in the Encyclopaedia Eorzea that those Miqo'te were descendants of Miqo'te that once lived in Eorzea, but were driven out and exiled by the Allagan Empire during the Third Astral Era. While I know nothing beyond that much, we can at least determine that Miqo'te do not, technically, originate from Ilsabard.

[Kyan]

Couple things here.
The world of Hydaelyn is made up of three separate, major continents: Aldenard to the West (in which the realm of Eorzea is present), Ilsabard to the North (where the Garlean Empire originates from), and Othard to the East.

Well, technically the World of Hydaelyn has three major landmasses, Meracydia and the New Continent (to the West) being two not seen on our maps, Aldenard, Ilsabard and Othard making the other as they are connected by land bridges.

[Kinkoz]

Well, technically the World of Hydaelyn has three major landmasses, Meracydia and the New Continent (to the West) being two not seen on our maps, Aldenard, Ilsabard and Othard making the other as they are connected by land bridges.

That's... Pretty much what I said. Meracydia and the New World generally aren't counted among the Three Great Continents, like with Thavnair, the Southern Seas, and the Northern Empty.

[Kyan]

That's... Pretty much what I said.

The world of Hydaelyn is made up of three separate, major continents: Aldenard to the West (in which the realm of Eorzea is present), Ilsabard to the North (where the Garlean Empire originates from), and Othard to the East.

Sorry if you felt what I said was redundant, I was just trying to clarify the bold point you made of what makes up the world, especially for the sake of people that think Meracydia is the Miqo'te's homeland (as I once did prior to all the information we received in 3.0 and 4.0).

"The Three Great Continents" are just one of the three major landmasses in Hydaelyn. Meracydia is the second of Hydaelyn's three major landmasses, with "The New World" or Ketenland being the third major landmass. This is not to be confused with the "Three Great Continents" which makes up one of the "three major landmasses".

Meracydia and The New World may not be so important to our plot currently, but they are large enough to be considered "major landmasses" and make up the "three major landmasses" of our beautiful world (Reference, Page 12 and 13 of the Encyclopaedia Eorzea)! Hehe.

[Kinkoz]

snip

Not so much redundant, simply irrelevant. Wasn't aware that people thought that cats come from Meracydia though, that's certainly a new one.

As it is, you're splitting hairs. Hydaelyn IS, canonically, made up of three, separate, major continents, and the rest of the landmasses are always stated as being in relation to any one of the three – like how Meracydia and the New World are constantly referenced as being adjacent to Aldenard/Eorzea, and how Thavnair is referenced as being adjacent to Ilsabard. They're significant locations, of course, but are nowhere near large enough to be counted in the same level of prominence as... Well, the Three Great Continents themselves.

Why you feel the need to state your references in the Encyclopaedia Eorzea to me is also baffling, considering everything I initially said, I derived from those very same pages (and then some). That's why I made it a point to list the book as a reference in my own, initial post as well.

More so than all of this, specifying the rest of the landmasses is, really, quite irrelevant to the question OP asked. They wanted to know where Ilsabard is located, and the easiest way to illustrate this is by giving a very basic overview of the way each of the Three Great Continents are represented on a map, which is generally considered to be Aldenard – West, Ilsabard – North, and Othard – East, with a giant mass of ocean between all three.

[Kyan]

Once again I apologise, I was not provoking you or attacking, simply trying to elaborate on what you have said. Exploring Hydaelyn is something that really excites me, and I just wanted to clarify for the rest of the thread-readers that there is more to Hydaelyn than "The Great Continents," which is how your post reads. It was not an attack, the lore forums are a place to educate and talk about the FFXIV world.

I quoted those pages because, canonically, it states "There exist three main landmasses in Hydaelyn, the largest being that which contains three great continents - Aldenard, Ilsabard, and Othard." The other two are Meracydia and The New World, as I posted and you know. This is the entry just under the title on page 012. Aldenard, Ilsabard, and Othard are significant, sure, and larger than many of the other landmasses. But I disagree with your point that they "make up Hydaelyn" - they are only one third of the major lands of Hydaelyn, as stated in the lore. That's all I wanted to point out.

The thread topic was about Miqo'te origins, and I also have the same wish to see more of the Miqo'te tribes represented in the game (I have a lore-based name, and am excited to see the Viper tribe represented one day, if at all!). In the theme of the thread, the idea that Miqo'te came from Meracydia isn't a new one. If you look through the many lore threads on Miqo'te, and even in this one (someone else posted about Miqo'te coming form Meracydia earlier in the thread, prior to your first post, which is what encouraged me to post here :-) ). Who knows, it could still be the case - they could have migrated from Meracydia to Eorzea pre-Allagan, bringing Aloe on the journey! But that's pure speculation and tin-foil hat stuff.

Back when I compiled a whole lot of information in 2013 in the forums about in-game text and online references about the wider world of Hydaelyn, there were certainly a few item descriptions that hinted at Miqo'te coming from the South (which, speculating, could have been the original intention, as the similar Mithra had come from the southern lands in FFXI, and it changed as 3.0 and 4.0 developed and more world lore and history developed behind the scenes, but who knows! A lot of minor lore has been adjusted and retconned (such as leves which mention Rothlyt Sound being near Vylbrand - but the pesky pelicans still are near Aleport! But I digress...)). It's now nice to have that clarity and to know Miqo'te have a history with Eorzea, thanks to things like the lore forums and the lore book.

I do not post as often as I used to on these forums because of how people treat each other, and I do not have time for that in my life. So I apologise if you felt I was being nasty or mean towards you personally. :-) Never my intention. I apologise that you felt you needed to be defensive with me, and I forgive you if you felt ill towards me. I think I'll leave now and just go back to lurking in the forums, hehe.

[Anathaer]

Sorry for taking a while to get back to this. I was completely absorbed into leveling my RDM lol. I am still curious to them. What we hear here are also different stories. I am looking for the one true story from begin to now. So before Ilsabard they lived in Eorzea and just came back? But then, where did they used to live? Where do they come from as per origin of the first roots of Miqo'te? I wish we would get an explanation about that as well. For me Miqo'te is THE race for me, so I want to know everything about them! ^^