Revelations from Keynote III (2019)

[ObsidianFire]

The devs get kudos for picking 12,000 years ago for when the Shard Split happened. It's recent enough that the geography of the the different Shards would be very, very similar to the Source (minus all the effects on the Source because of Calamities). It is is also long ago enough for every Shard's cultures to be completely different from the Sources. Take out Omega and Midgardsormr's influence on the Shards and they would turn out very, very differently from the Source even though they do have similar land masses.

There's also the fact that the zones we go to are the last parts of the Shard that are still around. The 1st Shards' equivalents of Ilsabard and Othard have probably been Flooded with Light and no longer exist. We're basically in the 1st Shard's version of Eorzea with totally different cultures.

[Bright-Flower]

I wonder if the First has anything like calamities in its history. The calamities in Eorzea over the millennia could themselves explain many of the differences even without calamities in the First. For example just look at Coerthas before and after bahamut.



EDIT: A thought about Au Ra. Just speculation and maybe others thought of it first. With it being unclear it they have any actual ties to dragons or voidsent or whatever, I wonder if it's possible that Xaela have ties to voidsent and Raen have ties to sin eaters, explaining the black/white thing going on with them. Maybe the dawn father/dusk mother were light/dark related entities? Just idle speculation but makes me wonder.

[Chewy2nd]

I find it interesting that Au Ra are named Drahn, given that dragons probably aren't on Norvrandt.

[MrThinker]

You cannot compare human history with the geological timescale, though. In geology, we tend to measure time in steps of a few 1000 years. Like, everything below that is considered the blink of an eye, and while great events, like earthquakes, can change a lot... it's not enough to make any meaningful difference, really. 2000 years is laughable. Also, let me tell you, studying Geology really skews your sense of time, haha xD

ill be honest, I misunderstood Cilia and thought they meant historical events rather than geographical events, yeah 12000 years is bit too short for significant landmass differences xP.

[MrThinker]

I wonder if the First has anything like calamities in its history. The calamities in Eorzea over the millennia could themselves explain many of the differences even without calamities in the First. For example just look at Coerthas before and after bahamut.

I think this is likely, since Calamities on the Source are orchestrated by Ascians to force rejoining of Shards. The Ascians probably don't try enacting the same plan on multiple different worlds. I'm still confused about how the Crystal Tower exists on the First, since we were told that it was built by the Allagans on the Source, and Allagans wouldn't exist w/o Omega, and there should be only one Omega. (unless they had already succeeded in making portals to other shards (not the void) because of course they did >.>)

[LineageRazor]

Someone mentioned a theory early in the thread as to why the Crystal Tower was in the First Shard, and I'm surprised it was forgotten so quickly, because it made perfect sense to me. I was wondering how we'd be getting to the First Shard, since we'd need to be able to get back to the Source pretty much at-will - and the Crystal Tower is the perfect answer. We already know it is capable of breaching the barriers between worlds, since it bore a hole to the Void. It's not at all a stretch to assume that CT is going to be the gateway between the Source and the First. Even better, I'll bet it can be used as an "antenna" of sorts, so we can use it to teleport to Aethercites on either world. My guess is that there WAS no Crystal Tower on the First Shard, but we will be doing something with CT that causes it to simultaneously exist in both worlds, anchoring them together for easy transport. I think that the many tents and such that we saw around the base of the tower in the video lends support to this theory. It looks like the makings of a camp, of sorts, used by the multitude of people coming through the Crystal Tower to help out on the First shard.

And yes, it appears that G'raha is going to make an appearance - and he's been warped by CT somehow. His hand was made out of crystal! Kinda creepy.

It really does appear that we're going to be either wrapping things up with the Garleans on Tuesday, or at least bringing things to a ceasefire while we deal with the First Shard. Neither option is all that appealing; either it will be over and done with too easily, or we'll be putting it off for an entire three years. Unless they go halvsies, like they did this expansion, dealing with both Garlemald and the First Shard simultaneously. Which also wouldn't be that appealing. Impress me Squeenix!

Slightly disappointed by no-male Viera race, but not enormously surprised. What Yoshi P wants, Yoshi P gets, just as happened with BLU. Not that big a deal to me, though, as I had no intention of changing to Viera, male or otherwise.

Kvetching aside, I'm definitely looking forward to what is to come! Now, if only SE would pump out a few more Limited Editions so I could place my pre-order...

[Quor]

I also believe that CT will somehow work as a "resonator" or something that serves as a bridge between the worlds. Part of me wonders if CT isn't a sort of "aetheryte iceberg" in that we only see the top-most portion of it, but in actuality it's far larger than we know.

As for 4.56 and Garlemald, I don't think things are going to be wrapped up nice and neat in a bow. Going by the trailer, we defeat Zenos (or whoever is in Zenos' body anyway) in what appears to be the Ghimlyt Dark. Then you have Y'shtoya and maybe-Urianger talking about accepting or defying fate as a forest burns around them, with Y'shtoya declaring that she will "hold the line" until their friend returns. The firestorm is implied to be some sort of cataclysmic event, but I wonder if it's not something more mundane like a magiteknical barrage of fire from the Garleans. Given what we saw of Varis in the most recent MSQ stuff, the sudden disappearance of Eorzea's fabled Warrior of Light would certainly embolden him to press the advantage, as the primary obstacle to his success has somehow up and vanished.

Another side note I haven't seen mentioned here; Thancred is for sure in Eulmore, with Chibifilia, fighting what is most likely a Sin Eater of some sort using a weapon that is clearly magiteknological in nature. How did he get there? He has no aether to speak of, and it was mentioned that unlike some people he has to actually hoof it everywhere he goes ever since his accident with Flow back in Ul'dah. Yet there he is, in the slums of Eulmore, protecting reborn-Minfilia. He knows who Minfilia is, somehow, and I think it's safe to say he also knows who he himself is, meaning he hasn't lost any memories or really changed at all in his transition to the First. Does he find his way there before us? After us? At the same time? Maybe we cross the threshold arm-in-arm as a comrades. But all jokes aside, given the "voice" every Scion, including ourselves, has heard and the souls of each afflicted being "gone" somehow, I'm inclined to say the voice is Zodiark. And it's Zodiark who ultimately will have a hand in getting us (and Thancred) over to the First in our true bodies, with our minds and memories and everything intact.

But the war with Garlemald won't stop. The Ascian's won't stop doing Ascian things, and Varis will press his advantage. This sets the stage for a return to an Eorzea that might very well be under the heel of the Empire. Or perhaps just fighting a losing war before we come swinging down from the branches to save the day. Except now we're the Warrior of Darkness, not the Warrior of Light, because that's what had to happen to save the First and it's peoples. What will Gaius think? Will he hunt us too, believing us an agent of the Ascians? What about the rest of the Scions? They'll know something is different with us, even if we don't have a clearly visible dark aura pouring out of us like something from a nightmare.

Regardless, that's all speculation. I firmly believe things with Garlemald will not be wrapped up nice and neat in a bow with a truce or a decisive victory or something. I think we'll take down Zenos - our finest moment thus far - before being unceremoniously snatched away to the First by as-yet-unknown means. With the Warrior of Light well and truly MIA and no evidence of his/her passing but a dead Zenos, the Empire will fall hard on Eorzea and Othard. War will make for some strange bedfellows, and when we finally find our way back we'll be in for a bumpy ride.

I think this is likely, since Calamities on the Source are orchestrated by Ascians to force rejoining of Shards. The Ascians probably don't try enacting the same plan on multiple different worlds. I'm still confused about how the Crystal Tower exists on the First, since we were told that it was built by the Allagans on the Source, and Allagans wouldn't exist w/o Omega, and there should be only one Omega. (unless they had already succeeded in making portals to other shards (not the void) because of course they did >.>)

I remember sometime during the WoD questline in 3.0 that Arbert talks about how he and his fellow Warriors of Light wiped out the Ascians that existed on their world. Elidibus also was key in bringing Unukhalhai here from his world (revealed later to be the 13th I think, or what is now known as the Void) and I know we fought at least one Ascian that was not from our world, but rather was an Ascian that had come from one of the other shards. I think it was in the Aetherochemical Plant prior to fighting Thordan in Azys La. The one that merged with Lahabrea to become Ascian Prime or whatever it was. Point here being that Ascian's were both present on other shards, and apparently possess the ability to move between them somehow.

[Chewy2nd]

You cannot compare human history with the geological timescale, though. In geology, we tend to measure time in steps of a few 1000 years. Like, everything below that is considered the blink of an eye, and while great events, like earthquakes, can change a lot... it's not enough to make any meaningful difference, really. 2000 years is laughable. Also, let me tell you, studying Geology really skews your sense of time, haha xD

You gotta remember though, the source experienced an earthquake large enough that it buried the Crystal Tower, a flood great enough that the majority of Eorzea was underwater, and then to top it off Bahamut exploded half the continent, lol. Norvrandt didn't experience any of those.

[SkyEdge1]

If anyone has ever read Stephen Kings the Dark Tower series, I'm getting some pretty similar vibes coming from the Crystal Tower.
For example what if the Allagans didn't create it, but rather re-purposed it? And instead the Crystal Tower exists in all the shards and serves as sort of a lynchpin to creation. Keeping all the Aether between the shards separate but linked together in one finite point. And like someone said above all we see is the tip of the iceberg, and the Crystal Tower extends much further into the world than previously thought. Would be a nice explanation to how one earthquake could wipe out a civilization as vastly spread as the Allagans, because it happened at the crux of all worlds? Just headcannon

[Cilia]

Well, the simplest explanation for the dual Crystal Towers is that it predates the Sundering.

I would then posit that it predates the Sundering and serves as a waypoint between Shards (and the Source). If it exists in two realities it probably would exist in all of them, and there has to be some significance in that case. Of course there's no reason to visit the other Shards since they aren't in danger, but maybe it's a sort of terminus for inter-Shard travel?

Ah... well, while I was initially reluctant to agree with the G'raha theory due to the scarring on the hooded figure not seen on him, with the reveal that the hooded figure is crystallizing and that we need to do CT for some additional context I'm willing to admit it's got a bit more credence. If that's the case I'd argue that he's acting as our observer. Maybe. Possibly.