What exactly do we know as of 5.3 about the sound that was heard before Amaurot fell?

[Yuella]

Forbidden Planet itself was inspired by Shakespeare's The Tempest

[AmemeAmeklin]

Actually, if you dive into the Source Lake, there are strange crystalline structures near the string of isles of Sullen.

Sorry to disappoint, but a mining leve from Crystarium tells us these are just giant extra pure salt crystals XD I got excited about those too, but then I got to hack at them later and was deeply disappointed.

One Ancient we talked to noticed (who had mistaken us for a child) noted that the Aether within us was WAY weaker than it should be (even for a child), and recommended we get a device to assist us in performing Creation magic.

As for this, the ancient specifically said our 'capacity for Creation' is nonexistent, so they sent us to beat up a cubus to harness its aetherial energy. Then they gave us an item that apparently was a concept matrix...and it was a lightning cluster. So a crafting catalyst was our reward. I assume this is partially a limitation to Emet-Selch's illusion (the merchant in Amaurot is also extremely limited, for some reason Emet-Selch saw fit to let them sell fishing bait?!) and partially a limitation to our own abilities thanks to sundering.

Concept Clerk: Pardon me for asking, but your creative potential is, um...relatively low, is it not? We are trained to assess these things, and I fear that you do not possess the ability to express this concept in physical form. It's almost as though you completely lack it, though that can't possibly be...

[...]

Here you are: a creation matrix that you may use to generate your own robes.

The concept is inscribed upon the crystal, which has been infused with the aether of the beast you brought me.

...What? Why are you looking at me as though you do not know how to channel the powers of creation? It is as natural as breathing─even a newborn babe has the instinct. Even if your potential is lacking, as one of our people, you must surely know what to do...

- Community Cohesion

I sort of figured based on this that crafting itself is a limited form of creation, since all recipes use elementally aspected crystals as catalysts to make something out of just a few items. The issue for the ancients would be that we sundered souls need materials, experience, and a pattern of sorts as well as the catalyst to actually make anything, and we certainly can't create fantastic beasts out of thin air. Now, with an actual proper concept matrix like what's seen in Anamnesis, it's shown that merely channeling aether into one will bring the concept to life. Bigger or more complex concepts require more aether, and therefore more than one Ondo has to channel into it to activate it. It doesn't necessarily kill the channeler, either. Comparing that process to Emet-Selch, who gave us an entire dungeon of monsters to battle with relatively little effort (I assume - we never actually saw him make it, so who knows how long it actually took him or how he did it), you can see why he would consider us weak and malformed.

Related to the topic, I surmised from the MSQ that there was more than one Sound.

Anxious Amaurotine: Have you not heard? Though yet confined to the lands across the sea, a terrible phenomenon afflicts our star. They are calling it the “Final Days.”

'Tis said it starts suddenly, a cacophonous keening from beneath the earth. The sound distorts all living things within earshot, and wrests from us control of our creation magicks.
Once that happens, all is lost. Fear, pain, despair...every dread impulse is siphoned from our minds and given substance: an eternal fall of fiery rain; an incessant spawning of nightmarish beasts...

None can point to the source of the phenomenon. 'Tis as if the star itself has fallen ill─as if a force inimical to life now festers and spreads.

'Tis only a matter of time until Amaurot, too, resounds to that discordant squall. You should stay with your loved ones, child... Stay with them...

- The End of a World

It seems from this that the sound would travel and cause havoc. Azem would've followed it, most likely, trying to put a stop to it...

This is mostly conjecture but I have had the impression from the Amaurot dungeon that the boss battles were originally fought by the convocation. I don't think it would be wrong to suggest, post 5.3, that Azem would have arrived in Amaurot (despite leaving their seat) and fought Therion with Emet-Selch + others.

The question remains as to how Lahabrea, Emet-Selch, and Elidibus escaped the Sundering when Hydaelyn was summoned, not to mention the exact timeline of summoning...I feel like Emet-Selch would've thrown himself into summoning Zodiark only after Azem ends up falling in battle, considering he chose to make an Azem fruit gummy in secret despite being tempered (I would assume these were made some time after the sundering, to raise the shards of other convocation members to their office), and he made seemingly a dozen contingency plans and even helped us out of the void despite being dead...but that's all baseless speculation for the moment.

Hmm, now I'm all fired up! Time to write some fanfic! XD

[ShadowMeowth]

Sorry to disappoint, but a mining leve from Crystarium tells us these are just giant extra pure salt crystals XD I got excited about those too, but then I got to hack at them later and was deeply disappointed.

Bah! This is what I get for not leveling crafters / gatherers. Disappointment.

It seems from this that the sound would travel and cause havoc. Azem would've followed it, most likely, trying to put a stop to it...

This is mostly conjecture but I have had the impression from the Amaurot dungeon that the boss battles were originally fought by the convocation. I don't think it would be wrong to suggest, post 5.3, that Azem would have arrived in Amaurot (despite leaving their seat) and fought Therion with Emet-Selch + others.

The question remains as to how Lahabrea, Emet-Selch, and Elidibus escaped the Sundering when Hydaelyn was summoned, not to mention the exact timeline of summoning...I feel like Emet-Selch would've thrown himself into summoning Zodiark only after Azem ends up falling in battle, considering he chose to make an Azem fruit gummy in secret despite being tempered (I would assume these were made some time after the sundering, to raise the shards of other convocation members to their office), and he made seemingly a dozen contingency plans and even helped us out of the void despite being dead...but that's all baseless speculation for the moment.

The way Emet narrates, he does it make sound personal, as if he were part of those battles. That Azem would have fought alongside him, that is definitely a possibility, for the whole Amaurot and the dungeon are not exactly aimed at the Scions but at the WoL/D to see if their memories can be given a push.

The whole not-getting-to-craft-a-memory-crystal was Ancient law, but I do not see it being equal to instant-hate-from-the-Convocation. They all were rather close, closer to some than to others as we see with Azem and Emet-Selch, Loghrif and Mitron, and Elidibus, Lahabrea and Igeyorhm, but generally close. In their constellation crystals they mutually comfort each other when the world is heading into ruin. It would not be in Azem's nature to leave Amaurot, her people and their friends Emet and Hythlodaeus and the Convocation deal with the Final Days on their own. As for how Elidibus, Lahabrea and Emet escaped the Great Sundering, my wild guess is that Azem might have had a hand on it. I actually wrote a short thing about that a few months ago... You know, perhaps Azem tried to shield Emet and Lahabrea and Elidibus got into the shield because proximity (?) and that is why they escaped. Emet in particular seems to fiercely resent the notion of heroism because apparently that word essentially means "sacrifice", see Elidibus. It would not surprise me if he actually resented it more because something Azem did. I do agree, all of this is FanFiction fuel at its best. :)

[RyuDragnier]

As for how Elidibus, Lahabrea and Emet escaped the Great Sundering, my wild guess is that Azem might have had a hand on it. I actually wrote a short thing about that a few months ago... You know, perhaps Azem tried to shield Emet and Lahabrea and Elidibus got into the shield because proximity (?) and that is why they escaped. Emet in particular seems to fiercely resent the notion of heroism because apparently that word essentially means "sacrifice", see Elidibus. It would not surprise me if he actually resented it more because something Azem did. I do agree, all of this is FanFiction fuel at its best.

I think more that perhaps Igeyorhm was the one who saved them. Consider the final scene with Elidibus after we give him the constellation crystals. Which ones did he hold? Igeyorhm and Lahabrea's. Lahabrea as we know was Unsundered, so it makes sense he'd take his considering they'd been together for millenia. But Igeyorhm's feels a bit out of place. If you come with the conclusion that Igeyorhm saved them from being Sundered, it makes a lot more sense.

[ShadowMeowth]

I think more that perhaps Igeyorhm was the one who saved them. Consider the final scene with Elidibus after we give him the constellation crystals. Which ones did he hold? Igeyorhm and Lahabrea's. Lahabrea as we know was Unsundered, so it makes sense he'd take his considering they'd been together for millenia. But Igeyorhm's feels a bit out of place. If you come with the conclusion that Igeyorhm saved them from being Sundered, it makes a lot more sense.

Iggy was the Convocation member shown alongside Lahabrea in Elidibus' memories, and she was who told him the line of: "the rains have ceased, and we have been graced with another beautiful day". It is common thought that Lahabrea and Igeyorhm were rather close, and apparently within the Convocation Elidibus felt the closest to them. Given that he cannot remember Azem, implied to have been his inspiration, but you get what I mean.

[Iscah]

Sorry to disappoint, but a mining leve from Crystarium tells us these are just giant extra pure salt crystals XD I got excited about those too, but then I got to hack at them later and was deeply disappointed.

On the one hand, yeah. The levequest declares them salt crystals and that's super disappointing.

On the other... salt crystals? In a presumably-freshwater lake?

We were also harvesting "driftwood" from ruined buildings at one point if I remember right, so the descriptions are at least slightly dubious. I wonder if the levequest people actually talk to the lore people...

[Kesey]

On the one hand, yeah. The levequest declares them salt crystals and that's super disappointing.

On the other... salt crystals? In a presumably-freshwater lake?

We were also harvesting "driftwood" from ruined buildings at one point if I remember right, so the descriptions are at least slightly dubious. I wonder if the levequest people actually talk to the lore people...

No this is probably a real world thing that made it into the final fantasy game. A great example is the great lakes, which today are fresh water lakes, but underneath them is a large deposit of salt from pre-history when the United States or we should say the earth plates that would house the United States in the future were under the ocean.

[AmemeAmeklin]

On the one hand, yeah. The levequest declares them salt crystals and that's super disappointing.

On the other... salt crystals? In a presumably-freshwater lake?

We were also harvesting "driftwood" from ruined buildings at one point if I remember right, so the descriptions are at least slightly dubious. I wonder if the levequest people actually talk to the lore people...

If the salt isn't floating around in the water actively then it'd still be freshwater, I think. The water in the immediate vicinity might be brackish if the salt dissolves.

I can't comment on the driftwood label being assigned to house ruins, but I'm fairly sure both the names of the items gathered and the lore in the description are the product of the lore/localization team. If it turns into a problem with the MSQ, the locations of that levequest's nodes may find themselves mysteriously relocated in the future...

[Vyrerus]

Forbidden Planet itself was inspired by Shakespeare's The Tempest

Yes and no. There's character analogues and setting analogues, but the plots are radically different. A lot of reviewers at the time Forbidden Planet came out likened it to The Tempest, as a method of praise, and the filmmakers gladly accepted such a comparison, because of Shakespeare's notoriety.

So that rippled onwards to people writing essay after essay comparing and contrasting the two, when in actuality their similarities only go so far as their shared tropes.

I mean, far be it from me to undo 64 years of literary interpretation by a multitude of scholars in a single forum post, but that's just my take on it. I think people often attribute stories that share tropes with Shakespeare's work to being inspired or direct ripping-offs of said Bard of Avon's work, but in actuality they're just re-tellings of older myths, much like Shakespeare's work itself.

Of course, if we do follow the consensus that Forbidden Planet is a modern twist on The Tempest, it does wrap everything up in a nice little bow with the zone name where Amaurot lies. Which would make Emet-selch Prospero and Azem Ferdinand. Coincedentally, Ferdinand means, "brave traveler." Heh. XIV's writers done good, huh?

[ShadowMeowth]

Yes and no. There's character analogues and setting analogues, but the plots are radically different. A lot of reviewers at the time Forbidden Planet came out likened it to The Tempest, as a method of praise, and the filmmakers gladly accepted such a comparison, because of Shakespeare's notoriety.

So that rippled onwards to people writing essay after essay comparing and contrasting the two, when in actuality their similarities only go so far as their shared tropes.

I mean, far be it from me to undo 64 years of literary interpretation by a multitude of scholars in a single forum post, but that's just my take on it. I think people often attribute stories that share tropes with Shakespeare's work to being inspired or direct ripping-offs of said Bard of Avon's work, but in actuality they're just re-tellings of older myths, much like Shakespeare's work itself.

Of course, if we do follow the consensus that Forbidden Planet is a modern twist on The Tempest, it does wrap everything up in a nice little bow with the zone name where Amaurot lies. Which would make Emet-selch Prospero and Azem Ferdinand. Coincedentally, Ferdinand means, "brave traveler." Heh. XIV's writers done good, huh?

I did not know of the play (I will not claim I know much of Shakespeare's work, here you would only study it if you course a degree on English Literature) but to have a general idea I checked the Wikipedia and dear Lord. The Tempest-area-of-Norvrandt is brimming to references to The Tempest-Shakespeare-play. Not just because of Prospero and Ferdinand (great catch on the name's meaning) as you mentioned, but there are zones of the Tempest named after characters in the play. Specifically, the Caliban Gap / Gorge and the Trinculo Shelf. This incidentally makes the Tempest being a combination of two great English classics: The Tempest by William Shakespeare in the seabed part, and Utopia by Thomas Moore in Amaurot's part. Very theatrical. Then again, it is Emet we are talking about. Of course he would be theatrical. :D