6.0 Story Speculations

[Cilia]

The whole point of DRK (storywise) is to illustrate that being "good" sometimes means it's necessary to act outside the law since there are people the law can't touch. The people who do such things are criminals as a consequence, but that doesn't always equate to being "bad" or "wrong." (See: Chaotic Good)

Was it right to do this? Well... it certainly wasn't legal, but "wrong" is another matter altogether, especially when we didn't throw the first punch.

Further why does it matter if Lowdy incited a riot to sabotage a peace talk? Just because she's a criminal doesn't mean she shouldn't be treated humanely, especially considering she's shown to be genuinely remorseful for her actions in the selfsame quest.

[Raikai]

I was speculating about the new Capital city... The one that is not the Thavnairian one, as it was already stated to be the "smaller hub" like Eulmore is to the Crystarium.

From one side... Sharlayan is a strong candidate. I kind of think that Krile will actually achieve something with her pledge for help, and Sage as an available job will be a result of that as well.

From another side, it would be interesting to have an ongoing effort to actually build a new Garlean capital through the xpac, for the survivors of the war. But this may lead to a rather unimpressive city. At least at first... Maybe it will feature something like the Doman Enclave meets Ishgard Restoration?

[BlitzAceRush]

I was speculating about the new Capital city... The one that is not the Thavnairian one, as it was already stated to be the "smaller hub" like Eulmore is to the Crystarium.

From one side... Sharlayan is a strong candidate. I kind of think that Krile will actually achieve something with her pledge for help, and Sage as an available job will be a result of that as well.

From another side, it would be interesting to have an ongoing effort to actually build a new Garlean capital through the xpac, for the survivors of the war. But this may lead to a rather unimpressive city. At least at first... Maybe it will feature something like the Doman Enclave meets Ishgard Restoration?

I thought the same, I still feel Sharlayan might be a subvert, more so with it being revealed now, while it's very possible we do just go there, given how much ground I feel would need to be broken (they're even more entrenched in their ways then Ishguard) I just don't feel, even with the fate of the world, them just throwing their doors open, because for it to be the other capital city they need to give a reason for why more than just us being there, like how Ishguard in the wake of us helping them in the Steps of faith and them buckling under the weight of the war, they were willing to allow adventures beyond the WoL inside to help them not collapse, before the ending of 3.0 had them fully open up. Sharlayan's story just feels too grand to relegate to being shoved into the background of the climax of another story or quickly handwaved as it was all sorted off screen.
What I could see is Krile winning a vote of aid, and them sending some help, or them outright still refusing but some realizing how stupid that is given what's at stake going against the board and returning with Krile with "borrowed" knowledge, could even be the twins parents, at least their mother, as Alisaie states she's where Alphinaud gets his idealism from.

[Kesey]

I thought the same, I still feel Sharlayan might be a subvert, more so with it being revealed now, while it's very possible we do just go there, given how much ground I feel would need to be broken (they're even more entrenched in their ways then Ishguard) I just don't feel, even with the fate of the world, them just throwing their doors open, because for it to be the other capital city they need to give a reason for why more than just us being there, like how Ishguard in the wake of us helping them in the Steps of faith and them buckling under the weight of the war, they were willing to allow adventures beyond the WoL inside to help them not collapse, before the ending of 3.0 had them fully open up. Sharlayan's story just feels too grand to relegate to being shoved into the background of the climax of another story or quickly handwaved as it was all sorted off screen.
What I could see is Krile winning a vote of aid, and them sending some help, or them outright still refusing but some realizing how stupid that is given what's at stake going against the board and returning with Krile with "borrowed" knowledge, could even be the twins parents, at least their mother, as Alisaie states she's where Alphinaud gets his idealism from.

5.55 could easily swing the other way, as we go off to accomplish another task, take a set back, only to get a call from Krile to say maybe the WOL and twins need to come to Sharlayan as there is another issue. Or Krile just doesn't report in (maybe with a "Meanwhile in Sharlayan" seeing her taken or arrested). Maybe these aren't the most exciting cliff hangers but Sharlayan is very much still in play until fanfest says otherwise.

[BlitzAceRush]

5.55 could easily swing the other way, as we go off to accomplish another task, take a set back, only to get a call from Krile to say maybe the WOL and twins need to come to Sharlayan as there is another issue. Or Krile just doesn't report in (maybe with a "Meanwhile in Sharlayan" seeing her taken or arrested). Maybe these aren't the most exciting cliff hangers but Sharlayan is very much still in play until fanfest says otherwise.

Oh, it's very much in play and now that the doors open it's very likely we will just go there and it is the second city, my point was I'd just be disappointed with it as being the second city as I feel the whole getting Sharlayan to open up to the world could have been it's own plot given how guarded and zealous they've been, abandoning Eorzea en masse, refusing any help or knowledge, sending almost death squads after anyone who'd defy the board and try and share even small amounts of it (AST quests) It would just feel like another Stormblood, when Sharlayan would get "resolved" quickly for the sake of a bigger narrative like "saving" Ala Mhigo by spending most of the story saving Doma instead only for Ala Mhigo to have resolved most of it themselves and us arrived just intime for the two final pushes.
Edit: More worrying as they want to wrap up everything in 6.0, so in addition to Thavnair, Garlemald, The Moon, Fighting off the end days in Erozea, deal with Fandaniel, fight Zenos, put to rest the story of Hydaelyn and Zodiark we also need to go to/get into Sharlayan.

[Yuella]

Sharlayan itself can be the gateway to the moon (ala Mysidia in FF4) so we may not get there until after the level 89 dungeon/trial. Then 6.1 and after takes place in and around Sharlayan as we build up to 7.0

[DamianFatale]

I thought the same, I still feel Sharlayan might be a subvert, more so with it being revealed now, while it's very possible we do just go there, given how much ground I feel would need to be broken (they're even more entrenched in their ways then Ishguard) I just don't feel, even with the fate of the world, them just throwing their doors open, because for it to be the other capital city they need to give a reason for why more than just us being there, like how Ishguard in the wake of us helping them in the Steps of faith and them buckling under the weight of the war, they were willing to allow adventures beyond the WoL inside to help them not collapse, before the ending of 3.0 had them fully open up. Sharlayan's story just feels too grand to relegate to being shoved into the background of the climax of another story or quickly handwaved as it was all sorted off screen.
What I could see is Krile winning a vote of aid, and them sending some help, or them outright still refusing but some realizing how stupid that is given what's at stake going against the board and returning with Krile with "borrowed" knowledge, could even be the twins parents, at least their mother, as Alisaie states she's where Alphinaud gets his idealism from.

One supporting factor of Sharlayan is that we already have all of the assets for its basic structure. Sharlayan architecture exists in the Crystarium, Dravania, Eureka, and even in Gyr Albania, although its only one little ancient ship that might have led to the founding of their nation. We also have Astrologian, and Sage; which appear to be Sharlayan originated jobs. There's also several instances of Sharlayan inspired gear. That alone could make several npcs, and recycled leveling gear. Square Enix historically loves to have assets made gradually for their expansions.

Many people don't notice this, but a lot of monsters being used in later expansions as enemy mobs, are often introduced in the last patch of each expansion in order to test them. I would even bet that other nations are being set up over time with the gear and assets that we already have right now.. It's just how game devs tend to operate. Look at Thavnair, because it took us several questlines involving them, and a lot of different gear references before we even got Dancer, and now we are finally going there..

The hints are always in the game. Look at what has the MOST stuff just lying there in the background, and chances are that is where we will be going. If it has just a LITTLE bit of gear, it probably isn't ready. Doma was hinted at for two whole cycles before we went, and it was even specified that the more we saw Doman gear/npcs, then the sooner we would be there, and we did in fact go there. The trail to our next locations is almost always hidden behind buried content just lying in wait to be picked up on a grander scale. The only exception is probably the first. We only had one major questline that even remotely hinted at us going there, which was all the way back in Heavensward. It was a big twist that most people did not even expect at all.

[Kesey]

Oh, it's very much in play and now that the doors open it's very likely we will just go there and it is the second city, my point was I'd just be disappointed with it as being the second city as I feel the whole getting Sharlayan to open up to the world could have been it's own plot given how guarded and zealous they've been, abandoning Eorzea en masse, refusing any help or knowledge, sending almost death squads after anyone who'd defy the board and try and share even small amounts of it (AST quests) It would just feel like another Stormblood, when Sharlayan would get "resolved" quickly for the sake of a bigger narrative like "saving" Ala Mhigo by spending most of the story saving Doma instead only for Ala Mhigo to have resolved most of it themselves and us arrived just intime for the two final pushes.
Edit: More worrying as they want to wrap up everything in 6.0, so in addition to Thavnair, Garlemald, The Moon, Fighting off the end days in Erozea, deal with Fandaniel, fight Zenos, put to rest the story of Hydaelyn and Zodiark we also need to go to/get into Sharlayan.

How does a place like Sharlayan produce idealistic people like Louisoix, Krile, Alphinaud and Alisiae, yet turn around and still remain isolationist and hoarding the collected knowledge of the world? Why did Sharlayan want to hunt down certain Astros to stop the spread of knowledge? Why did they abandon a perfectly good colony in the hinterlands due to a political climate set by Garlean invasions when they are renown scholars and diplomats respected by all the nations? Why is their origin story basically the story of Noah's ark and that ark sits in Gyr Abania nowhere near Sharlayan and honestly looks like it came out of Azys Lla? And why does all the Sharlayan buildings and naming conventions seem very similar to ones we see in Amaurot?

Sharlayan is hiding something.

(Also, it's pretty convenient to the story telling to have a nation of scholars when SE promises to answer the lingering questions...I'm just saying...)

[BlitzAceRush]

I very much agree with you, it just feels like a larger mystery than there's room for with everything else in 6.0. Obviously Sharlayan isn't going to evaporate after the events of 6.0, but if it's the second city, that's a pretty big shift from "no one in! we no share!" to "come on it and share our city and knowledge!" I would have just preferred it to have been it's own quest, with they desire to tell smaller stories an expansion peeling back the layers of Sharlayan would have been cool, where it could have been more deeply explored or even only showing up from 6.1-6.5.
That's why I put forward the idea of the Board actually saying no, and some few bringing the info the Scions need to them as opposed to us going there and then that being the portal to us finally dealing with just what Sharlayan is hiding/up to come 6.1 onwards vs it trying to compete for space in what already seems to be a very crowded 6.0

[DamianFatale]

snip

To be fair, they could go the Eulmore route and give us limited access early in the story. I could also see them finally helping. A lot of people don't realize how key their relations with the rest of Eorzea are. They had a major colony on Eorzea for quite some time, which meant that they had to have some sort of relationship with the rest of the city states there. For them to just pull away, and refuse to help on a grand scale is.. politically a dick move to their friends.

In my opinion, I think that Sharlayan is key to ending the Ascian threat. I think they didn't pull out to simply avoid conflict. Remember this is an island nation with potent magic. They likely have enough people to support the resistances across the globe. They just won't.

For a city of knowledge to refuse all help, I believe they had to know something, and that something I believe is the knowledge of the Ascians. The isle of Val was a moderately sized portion of their country. Such a local calamity doesn't usually just happen because of random shenanigans. Maybe in the vein of alien threats like Omega, and Ultima (High Seraph), but those are rare and few between. They had to have an active plan in preventing the Ascians plan in the background. The students of Baldesion, and the main players behind the power in the city had to have something to do with it. I believe that destroying the headquarters of the students who were researching the Ascian threats, was a warning from the Ascians. These people were also our only publicly known allies in the country, but due to the isolation, and the weakness of our characters at the time, there wasn't anything the Warrior of Light, or that the Scions could do. It seems like a convenient thing that the Ascians purposely took advantage of at the time in order to prevent combined meddling from Eorzea and Sharlayan.

That is extremely fishy.. and considering the Ascian involvement in the Eureka questline, we know that to be true. Now for how far the anti Ascian fighting runs deep in Sharlayan? That much Is to be seen, but I have a feeling someone ancient could even be leading them. They could just be incredibly smart, but perhaps some sort of an anti Ascian figure is on their side. Maybe someone from one of the opposing cultures they sacrificed.. it could really be anything or anyone.

Those are my thoughts on this matter. You don't just abandon an entire colony for no reason, and then declare non involvement in the wars that were going on. They had to know what is truly at stake.

Perhaps the rejected peace talks between them and Garlemald were because of the Ascians all along, since we know now that Garlemald was an Ascian idea all along... Maybe Sharlayan wanted to persuade it's leaders to resist the influence of them and failed. All we know is that there were peace talks, and not really what went on within them.

Remember the Ascians and Garlemald were a combined threat that seemed separate at the time, but was truly one force in secret. It's obvious they took down the Isle of Val at just the right time when we were too distracted in Eorzea. Had they have waited we could of stopped them from destroying whatever was so important to destroy in Val. Eureka and the war with Garlemald were clearly nothing more than distractions for a broader plan, being essential to keep anyone from getting anywhere near any of the Ascians true goals.

Sharlayan just has to be the biggest player.. I will be genuinely surprised if they aren't the next larger hub.