The Legacy of Alexander and the Xaela [Spoilers]

[LystAP]

In effect, everything from the time Alexander returns Mide and Dayan to (exact date unknown) until the point when he actually does so is stuck in a temporal loop. Nothing within it can be changed - meaning yes, Mide, Dayan, Quickthinx, and even Alexander himself is stuck in and endless loop. They're all prisoners of time - we would be as well, if we didn't have an exit after defeating Alexander. It is kind of sad, but at least Mide and Dayan got to live out their lives in the past. Which is their future. (Don't think about it too hard.) It arguably makes Alexander himself quite pitiable, since despite having power over time and space he is more a prisoner of time than anyone else.

The history book Y'shtola provides following Alexander's defeat does mention Mide's distinctive blue hair, so it can be safely concluded that the blue hair was always a thing (since Mide was both a progenitor and the last survivor of the Hotgo). As for the face paint... can't account for that one, lol. The time loop's start is indeterminate - it exists in a "Time Zero" beyond our ability to observe. One can only speculate where and when it was set into motion, and how the events played out.

Who knows? Maybe the Xaela did use the Enigma Codex and information in it to help build the Dusk and Dawn Thrones, and other such things. Maybe they didn't. Mide and Dayan couldn't have stopped the Dotharl massacre - it's part of the time loop, and besides, they were likely in Eorzea when it happened, so they probably didn't even know about it.

The Garlean Empire is a very proud nation; I doubt they would have taken weaponsmithing advice from "savages" like the Hotgo. The Empire doesn't even want to go after the Steppe, for whatever reason. I would be very surprised if there were no gunblade designs in the Enigma Codex (it has cheese recipes, of all things, so...), and I would wager that if the Hotgo were using gunblades the design for said gunblade would be in the Codex. I'd need to rewatch the cutscenes with Mide and go get that weapon from Bardam's Mettle to see for myself; what class weapon is it? MCH?

I would think they knew of the massacre. In fact, the massacre may well be the event that made them desperate enough to try to summon Alexander as a primal. The Ascians ever excel at exploiting the desperate, as well as causing said desperation.

It is MCH. The weapon from the Mettle is called The Coming Storm, and it shares a model with another gun called Blue Steel from Stone Vigil, which shares the design with Mide's gun (which makes sense, probably a confiscated weapon from Ishgard's *history* with the Au Ra.)

The Hotgo is a tribe that shows up in the name generator, so there are a few PCs (me included) with Hotgo characters; whether or not Mide and Dayan were the last survivors is vague, given the Xaela predisposition to wander and the bit about survivors being away from the tribe. Thus, there is a measure of investment in seeing how their story plays out, if it continues. And with the Dotharl having such a presence, especially such positive one, it feels strange to think that they're the same tribe known for massacring an entire tribe (both combatants and non-combatants).