Quote Originally Posted by LineageRazor View Post
As for an official source as to eight being the last Rejoining needed to free Zodiark... I don't recall how I know this, or even whether it was in-game or the devs talking, but I'm pretty sure it was mentioned. Maybe someone else can confirm/deny that assumption?
Not a strong confirmation, but I also recall the Eighth Calamity being described as the "Eighth And Final Calamity", during one of the Fanfest slides in the keynote. Sadly, I don't have any screenshots of that slide, so I could also be misremembering.

And even if I am recalling it correctly, this is about as reliable as Fanfest slides are, including the one that says Shadowbringers is when we "finally take down the Garlean Empire". So caveats apply.

Quote Originally Posted by Ilenya View Post
Why would Lahabrea be alive? He died before the timelines would have converged (A point which I believe may have been the Exarch talking to us after we fought Elidizenos). Also, the entirely of the world was not affected by the Black Rose, as far as I can see. Garlemald, by all appearances, wasn't directly affected, and I don't think lands beyond Eorzea were, either. It's possible Limsa avoided the worst of it, as well. The story specifically mentions Ala Mhigo, the Shroud, and Thanalan...The areas closest to where the weapon was deployed. It's possibly Coerthas got a hit of it as well, but I suspect the part that would make everything uninhabitable didn't go too much further. The effects of the area no longer working as intended would have reached far, but not necessarily the initial effects.
Black Rose affected the entire world as the Tales says, due to "cascading environmental repercussions". Garlemald specifically had their ceruleum go inert, which would probably be about as serious to them as if every bit of fossil fuel suddenly gave no more energy for us. This is on top of crops failing and mutating due to Black Rose, which spread across the world.

(Presumably Black Rose was so effective now, compared to its initial deployment in Bittermill, because it is now part of a Rejoining, which exacerbates all the effects. Without a Rejoining, it would be plausible to believe that the effects would be limited in scope, like what the Empire did to Gaius's allies.)