Revelations from Patch 5.4

[Ronald_Bloodwings]

Personally...

I'm just expecting her sister Kagura to show up and save her at this point.

I feel like they mentioned her in way too much detail to not be getting herself involved in things sooner then later, not to mention it's most likely Sharlayan's isolationist/non-interference policies she didn't agree with; only she chose to oppose them aggressively instead of just quietly accepting it and making do with the restrictions like the Scions and others have.

Mikoto was mentioned as only recently stepping out to try to make a difference in the world, which I could see being a reason for her to try to bridge the gap that existed between them.

I agree though what roll she may play I'm not sure...

So uhh, about the bangaa, I found out this from Bwagi. I'm...not sure what to make of that knowledge. Hiding it because I personally feel it's cursed knowledge, and also because I don't want to take up too much space.

There is a reason they always hated being called 'lizards' in all the games they appeared in~

[RyuDragnier]

There is a reason they always hated being called 'lizards' in all the games they appeared in~

I'm just angry they decided to drop that bit of lore here, 14 years after FF12 first came out. Because I don't recall seeing it said anywhere in FF12 that they were mammals.

[JeanneOrnitier]

I don't recall it being said before either but it feels like the kind of thing that was probably in development notes back during devtime of Tactics Advance and 12.

At the least, Migelo did have facial hair.

So, my fourth run of DR concluded with me getting the dossier for the final boss of the instance, which I've transcribed here.

Save the Queen

A trigger weapon forged by the fallen Allagan Empire, Save the Queen was born from painstaking study of eikons and a desire to simplify and streamline the process by which they were summoned. Such devices—of which this holy blade stands as a prime example—serve as the catalyst by which an eikon may be called forth.

As for how this legendary sword did come to ancient Bozja, none can say. In light of Bozja's military weakness, it is inconceivable that they could have seized or stolen it themselves, and there is little reason to believe that Allag favored the Bozjans so much to have presented it as a gift. A more likely possibility is that an Allagan apostate who no longer looked kindly on the empire defected to Bozja and gifted his new countrymen the artifact of his own accord.

In any event, the fact remains that the holy blade of Bozja, that which could be wielded only by the hand of Queen Gunnhildr, was a trigger weapon—a relic of Allagan ingenuity.

In the days of ancient Ivalice, the crystal known as auracite was worshipped as a reliquary. Come to this world from the heavens on the wings of Ultima, the High Seraph, it houses power beyond mortal comprehension—a power that resonates within the desires of man, giving them concrete form. It was in their quest to artificially improve upon this natural phenomenon that the Allagans did create such a fearsome weapon, which forges the wielder's deepest desires into a trigger for calling forth an eikon. Having succeeded in the summoning, the Allagans then sought a means by which to bend said eikon to their will, and—after much trial and error—came to the conclusion that this could only be accomplished by one possessing the power of the Echo. The discovery was a testament to the terrifyingly boundless knowledge of the Allagans.

In time, Misija—having heard tell of the blade and the tragedy of Bozja's final queen—sought to manifest its primal power with herself as conduit. Yet summoning along would not suffice—she required a means by which to retain control over her body and will throughout the process. For this ,she would need the power of the Echo. So, with knowledge gained through the Empire's vast information network, she located a Sharlayan scholar by the name of Mikoto, known to possess the gift. Having succeeded in kidnapping her quarry, Misija employed techniques developed by Lord Aulus mal Asina at the Resonatorium to reproduce Mikoto's powers within herself, thus becoming Resonant.

Misija then sought to use the residual aether left in the blade by its former wielder—the woman born as Nevembya Votyasch—and her memories to conjure the shade of Queen Gunnhildr. Which these reserves were sufficient to temper the Resistance warriors who stood before her, however, they were woefully insufficient to accomplish her ultimate goal of becoming an eikon. When she learned that a fount of abundant aether such as she required could be found in the ruins of the ancient Bozjan palace Delubrum Reginae, her path was clear. There, with the power of the great crystal housed in its innermost chambers, Misija at long last made the holy blade's true power her own.

So it was that the queen stood before the Warrior of Light, with years of bitterness in her heart, that she might see Gabranth's vision made real by her own hand...

So since the Allagans had access to auracite would this place Ajora's time period as pre-Allag, or did him calling Ultima to destroy Mullonde occur later?

[RyuDragnier]

So since the Allagans had access to auracite would this place Ajora's time period as pre-Allag, or did him calling Ultima to destroy Mullonde occur later?

Personally,

I'm guessing pre-Allag. Looking at the descriptions of the various Umbral and Astral Eras, Ultima's summoning may very well be during or possibly even predate the 2nd Astral Era, as it's mentioned that's when the churches were in full power.

[JeanneOrnitier]

Yeah that probably makes the most sense.

In regards to the sword's origin,

Headcanon/theory until I'm proven wrong that the Heart of Sabik was another Allagan auracite experimental weapon. That ties both into the Ultima spell/Ultima seraph connection as well as the Werlyt Weapons based on Ultima Weapon using synthetic auracite.

[Zohar_Lahar]

On auracite

Lahabrea implied the Allagans never fully understood the Heart of Sabik. That leads me to think it was something that predated Allag and a template they tried to replicate with these "trigger weapons". Though it's still confusing as to how Ultima the High Seraph fits into all this, and the auracite induced disaster that befell the Thirteenth World.

Hopefully the new Pandaemonium raid in 6.x will explore the Heart of Sabik's origins.

[Iscah]

I mean, I'm not that surprised. Bangaa in FFXII could be pretty hairy, with Vaan and Penelo's father figure/caretaker looking more like Falkor than a reptile.

It could go either way, really, according to what they want to do with it - there's justification for scaly-looking mammals (armadillos and pangolins) and there's justification for hairy-looking reptiles via feathers being modified scales.

[Rosenstrauch]

On auracite

Lahabrea implied the Allagans never fully understood the Heart of Sabik. That leads me to think it was something that predated Allag and a template they tried to replicate with these "trigger weapons". Though it's still confusing as to how Ultima the High Seraph fits into all this, and the auracite induced disaster that befell the Thirteenth World.

Hopefully the new Pandaemonium raid in 6.x will explore the Heart of Sabik's origins.

Keep in mind this is just me spitballing:

I think Ultima may have touched down during the vaguely defined post-Sundering period before the First Umbral Era. Back when the Source and Reflections numbered fourteen. The Heart of Sabik, which contains the spell sharing her namesake, may in turn have been the result of the Ascians seizing any auracite they could get their hands on from her and... doing stuff with it. Likewsie, the auracite they took from her could well be the same auracite the heroes of the Thirteenth used to seal away primals, as their source would undoubtedly have been the Ascians.

6.0 stuff:

As an aside to the above, with the 6.0 artwork for Hydaelyn and Zodiark being shown, I can't help but notice it has some similarities to Ultima's appearance during the second phase of her fight. Namely, that her top half is an ostensibly angelic figure while her lower half is demonstrably demonic in appearance. Now, the Doyle in me says this is a mixed reference to her Tactics incarnation (where she sheds the angel appearance in her second phase to become some kind of undead monstrosity) and her Tactics Advance/XII incarnation (wherein she is riding some kind of brass/gold satellite). But it's still a very unique look for her, and I can't help but think that was an intentional call forward to the dynamic between Hydaelyn and Zodiark as depicted in that 6.0 artwork.

But I also find that to be hard to believe, considering how utterly divorced Ultima is from the Hydaelyn/Zodiark conflict. Still, food for thought.

[SilverArrow20XX]

So since the Allagans had access to auracite would this place Ajora's time period as pre-Allag, or did him calling Ultima to destroy Mullonde occur later?

Not necessarily.

Could have been concurrent with earlier Allag. Allag reigned for at least several centuries and was predominantly magical in their early reign before they started focusing more on tech as told in the SMN storyline.

[Ronald_Bloodwings]

One thing that was also not really touched on in the Ivalice raids was a plot point from Tactics...

At one of the mid-late points in the story after Ramza has seen what the zodiac stones/auracite do to people one of the named characters, Rafa/Rapha, watches her brother Malak/Marach die at the ends of one of the minor villains. Long story short after one of the more... difficult battles in the game that is a save trap for newbies that I fell into once... she's basically mourning her brother's death when the auracite begins to react. Rapha doesn't ask anything of the auracite, simply thanking the stone for mourning for Marach as well, then the auracite, seemingly of its own accord, resurrects Marach. In the dialogue after these events between the characters Ramza theorizes that the auracite, while certainly capable of manifesting demons like the lucavi, isn't necessarily evil on its own. Rather it can snare and amplify a person's more negative desires and manifest them as a lucavi demon, something we do see in the Ivalice raids. While a genuinely good hearted person wouldn't cause such a reaction and in this instance cause a 'miracle' like resurrecting Marach to occur.

Granted I don't see any sort of resurrections having a snowballs chance in hell of happening in the Bozja story but Mikoto could fit the bill for being a genuinely good person at any rate so if what I theorized about early about her using Save the Queen in some form is what happens it could lead to some genuine good being done with Save the Queen.