Can anyone explain what “The First” even is? Or it’s significance?

[Raikai]

Back a LONG time ago, Hydaelyn (the mothercrystal) and Zodiark coexisted. But Zodiark got too big for his britches and Hydaelyn smacked him down (sealing him in the moon). But in doing so, she "shattered" into 13 pieces. These pieces became alternate dimension versions of our world (the Source). Those alternate dimension versions of Hydaelyn also served as a "barrier" to keep Zodiark sealed away.

However, on the 13th shard, a flood of darkness came (caused by an overly aggressive Ascian) and engulfed the world, turning it into "the Void", a world devoid of aether and all it's inhabitants becoming twisted monsters.

The First is another one of the shards (their all named for a number 1-13). That is where we are going for Shadowbringers, because it was hit with a flood of light, which is just as bad as the flood of darkness. Luckily, the flood was halted and we have a chance to fix it.

The overall story, however, is that the Ascians (masked evil guys) are causing the Calamities (major destruction) on the Source (our world) because every time they do, Hydaelyn absorbs one of the shards to heal herself. They have done so 7 times so far (we have had 7 Calamities). If they can cause 1 more Calamity, that will be enough to weaken the barrier and allow Zodiark to free himself.

HM! So if she absorbed 7 calamities worth of shards, this means there are technically there are only 6 other shards (counting with the Void) out there?

Also, what happens to the people living in the absorbed shards? They just... cease to exist? D:

[Enkidoh]

HM! So if she absorbed 7 calamities worth of shards, this means there are technically there are only 6 other shards (counting with the Void) out there?

Also, what happens to the people living in the absorbed shards? They just... cease to exist? D:

Hard to say. The only Shard we know conclusively that has been completely destroyed is the Thirteenth, however that was not a result of a Rejoining, but a Flood - the Thirteenth fell completely to the Darkness, becoming the Void (those demons and monsters called 'Voidsent'? They were once living beings on the Thirteenth Shard - showing what fate awaits the First if the Flood of Light is not stopped).

From what we understand when a Rejoining occurs the aether that makes up a Shard is returned to the Source Hydaelyn, effectively erasing that Shard world from existence (and yes, the deaths of everyone there). However, the fact is we just don't know that much about it - the game has been naturally very vague on specifics.

The thing is though, a Flood is different from when a Shard is actively Rejoined to the Source - a Rejoining destroys the Shard world but the aether that made it up returns to the Source (and thus the people who formerly lived on that Shard could theoretically be reborn as a new life on the Source), however a world that has been Flooded with either Darkness or Light cannot be Rejoined, it's essentially an emptiness useless to the Ascians' plans to rebirth Zodiark. Needless to say, either outcome is, it should go without saying, is something not exactly favourable to mortals.

No doubt we'll find out more in SBS.

[Avidria]

"The FF14 community is nice"

Once again, thank you kindly for showing what this community really is.

One person makes a somewhat negative (rude, perhaps, but not inaccurate) post and suddenly that's a negative reflection on the whole community? lol wow ok

[Iscah]

The overall story, however, is that the Ascians are causing the Calamities on the Source because every time they do, Hydaelyn absorbs one of the shards to heal herself.

While the Ascians are certainly causing Calamities with the intent (and result) of the split dimensions being rejoined to the Source, the idea that Hydaelyn is deliberately absorbing them is only conjecture at this point. The mechanism has not been explained, and Hydaelyn remains extremely weak at this point.

[Kaedan]

HM! So if she absorbed 7 calamities worth of shards, this means there are technically there are only 6 other shards (counting with the Void) out there?

Also, what happens to the people living in the absorbed shards? They just... cease to exist? D:

Yup, there are only 6 shards left (including the 13th).

They have never said specifically what happens to a rejoined world, but we do know that Hydaelyn "completely absorbs the aether" of a rejoined shard, so it would stand to reason that either the shard ceases to exist completely, or it simply becomes a barren husk.

[Iscah]

They have never said specifically what happens to a rejoined world, but we do know that Hydaelyn "completely absorbs the aether" of a rejoined shard, so it would stand to reason that either the shard ceases to exist completely, or it simply becomes a barren husk.

As I wrote earlier, we do not yet know (to my knowledge) if Hydaelyn is absorbing the shards, only that the dimensional barriers are being broken. What is the source of the part you put in quote marks?

And since a Rejoining is literally that - the fragmented dimension rejoins to the original and ceases to exist - then there won't be leftover husk worlds. The aether is returned to the Lifestream, at least as far as the Scions (and thus we) understand it at that point.

[IntrovertAnt]

I appreciated this thread and people summing up some of the really macro aspects of the story. I've watched every cutscene but its been so long that a summary like these is great.