[5.55 Bozja spoilers] Additional post-ending Bozja story hidden in the field record

[Ronald_Bloodwings]

That's actually brilliant if you think about it. How long does it take us to travel from Limsa to Kugane by ship? 3-4 months. Where will we be likely traveling from ship in Endwalker? To Sharlayan, and Thauvnair, which combined may take 3-4 months (since we're covering half the distance towards both destinations). Assuming there's a time skip of some kind at the end of 6.0, this basically lets them write the IVth Legion out of the story for when we come back, with Tataru or somebody else explaining to us what has happened in our absence.


Are they chilling? Or are they fighting the Terminus nearby while also fighting the Resistance the reason why this faked death happens? If they lost far too much manpower and supplies against the Terminus, it could be the only way out that Noah sees. Plus our minds will be elsewhere, we won't give a damn about the IVth Legion, we're literally dealing with an End of the World scenario, they play second fiddle to this.

When you put it that way... I can see it working it just feels weird to 'know' already what happens so far in advance... like really weird... Maybe I'm thinking too much.

And I worded that wrong, it feels weird that Dalmasca would devote resources to fighting the 4th Legion when their own survival is no doubt also threatened by the End Days.

[WhiteArchmage]

Time is a VERY inconsistent thing in XIV. For SOME reason we do the Eorzea/Othard trip once and then maybe we just teleport back and forth. But then we go back to Gyr Abania and HIEN has enough time to gather the Xaela and ride Yols to Ala Mhigo. Even if we assume the overland route is shorter, and the Yols are faster, it still needs a lot of time to cross the entire lenghtwise Ilsabard, plus time for the Yol to rest; one good thing about boats is that they don't tire, but you can't ride a mount further than its natural limits or, well you're out of a mount.

That also affects our "time bubble", as we're still 5 years after the Calamity. We've Revolutionized Ishgard, gone to and from Kugane several times, Liberated Ala Mhigo, ran around the First, and we still haven't gone "up" a year (there were some people saying a year has passed but I've yet to see a source on that, last I checked the time bubble was just expanded). I even recall a few mentions in the MSQ of weeks passing, but... well, it's been one heck of a year...

Bottom line, I wouldn't put much thought into the time frames in the field notes. IF the events are picked back up, it'll just be handwaved away that "these events passed... a while ago..."

[swiss_Momo]

An enormous chunk of the playerbase would sooner cancel their FF14 subscription and slit their wrists than ever set foot in Bozja, after how Diadem and Eureka went.
I'd find it a baffling decision on SE's part to continue the Bozja story at all, let alone make it *required* for anything in the future. Including just understanding the MSQ.
If anything at all eventually comes of this storyline, I'd expect it to be summarized for us in-game; I'm personally expecting us to never hear about the IVth or Dalmasca again.

and don't forget that Bozja itself is locked behind the return to Ivalice raids, which still take quite some time to queue for. Locking anything mayor behind doing both would only get the SE HQ firebombed.
At most there'll be a cutscene flag like back in, uhhh, 3.4 with Alisaie and coils

That's actually brilliant if you think about it. How long does it take us to travel from Limsa to Kugane by ship? 3-4 months. Where will we be likely traveling from ship in Endwalker? To Sharlayan, and Thauvnair, which combined may take 3-4 months (since we're covering half the distance towards both destinations). Assuming there's a time skip of some kind at the end of 6.0, this basically lets them write the IVth Legion out of the story for when we come back, with Tataru or somebody else explaining to us what has happened in our absence.

Ehh, the off screen leisure cruise time skip won't be that long. Going by the 1st lore book a boat trip from Old Sharlayan to Limsa takes at least 2 weeks. And From Limsa to Doma would be 2 months. Also I recall reading somewhere that Limsa to Tavnair was 3 weeks

[JeanneOrnitier]

Hey, what do you think this was about?



My initial thought after seeing the ending is Sicinius must have been grabbing that axe and sword, but he actually says to Gabranth in the ending that Menenius was the one who dug those up, so that probably isn't it.

[ICountFrom0]

Part of me worries, just a little, that we are not really done here.

With the two MORE white auracite weapons discovered, and the revelation that there's this second style of allagan weapon, and that this isn't just a once and done weapon type like the ultima was...

[MoofiaBossVal]

Okay, I've read through the notes that didn't drop for me on Gamerescape.

It seems like Noah knew that the IVth Legion was going to fall, and that Menenius has a pawn in Dalmasca. Ashe has memory issues, so I'm guessing she's the pawn? So Gabranth plans to rule as a shadow dictator over Dalmasca through Ashe? Maybe he's convinced her that he is her twin brother Rasler? But Fran would never allow anyone shady like that to get close to Ashe, so I don't know how that could work.

I'm not sure what's up with the fake assassination of Gabranth. He was terminally ill. Why fake your death if you're going to die later? That leads me to suspect that Gabranth really did die. If he shows up again then it will probably be an imposter. But why would Gabranth allow his body to be found by Dalmasca? If they could truly identify his body, then that would make it very difficult for an imposter to claim to be the real Gabranth. The only way I think this could work is if maybe Sicinius created a Gabranth clone (who is also terminally ill?), or maybe if Gabranth pulled a Ramza/Gunnhildr and transplanted his soul into another body... I don't know. This sounds very convoluted.

[JeanneOrnitier]

^ Oh I hadn't read Menenius part 2, that is very interesting.

The scouts and intelligence operatives Menenius had dispatched throughout the region brought him regular reports. As they told it, Noah was most concerned with what would become of the various Resistance leaders after they had won their independence and the Garlean occupation was no more. He sought to know their plans—the blueprint they would follow.

As he considered this, Menenius realized with a sinking feeling that his suspicions were on target. Here in Bozja, so long as Bajsaljen occupied a position of leadership, Noah's ultimate goal would be realized. But what of Dalmasca? More populous than Bozja, and with its various factions far from united, the future was far from certain. Knowing Noah, he doubtless already understood this, and had already deployed a pawn to guide Dalmasca in his desired direction...

Combined with Fran's talking about her memory issues, I think you may be right that it's Ashe.

[Ronald_Bloodwings]

Just finished Zadnor. It was overall decent but ohhhh boy that last bit in the Gabranth field notes really made me go "what?". Dalmasca is liberated offscreen? So we won't even get a Dalmasca liberation arc in Endwalker? We won't get to assault the IVth Legion's capital city of Lea Monde? We won't get to see Ashe come out of the shadows and retake Dalmasca? What? If we do get a third IVth Legion storyline in Endwalker... it's going to be Gabranth suddenly showing up and taking over Dalmasca? With what army? So it's going to be really weird: the present game last leaves us off with the IVth legion in control of Dalmasca. And then by the time we go there in Endwalker to liberate it, it has been liberated and reconquered offscreen? What? This is an extremely bizzare setup that only seems self-defeating to me.
---

This goes to my theory about the Sicinius that Lyon turns over to the authorities being a 'copy' rather then the real one which also means...

Okay, I've read through the notes that didn't drop for me on Gamerescape.

It seems like Noah knew that the IVth Legion was going to fall, and that Menenius has a pawn in Dalmasca. Ashe has memory issues, so I'm guessing she's the pawn? So Gabranth plans to rule as a shadow dictator over Dalmasca through Ashe? Maybe he's convinced her that he is her twin brother Rasler? But Fran would never allow anyone shady like that to get close to Ashe, so I don't know how that could work.

.....

Sicinius could have convinced Gabranth to create a copy of himself as well, a body that wasn't terminally ill. Given how devoted members of the 4th could be to Gabranth it's not hard to imagine there being at least one volunteer. This also goes back to my thought that Dabog could return too since Sicinius wouldn't get rid of such useful data of a successful hypertuned soldier. Though one question I can't think of an answer for is 'where do they get all the resources to come back later?' Obviously they can't raise an army, even with the whole overwriting of others that Sicinius seems to be a master of, it still requires likey a ton of resources to do and they can't just start snatching people randomly. I think the big factor will be what those two weapons turn out to be lore wise, they obviously contain auracite of some kind, and given the glimpse into his personality we get from the few scenes we see if him and the field notes I'd say Gabranth is going to sit back and judge Dalmasca as he sees that as the much larger nation it is more likely to fail then Bozja. If he finds them to be wanting he would return using the power of the sword to be the big bad of that story, whatever it may be. It would certainly fit what we've been told of him as well as the source material of FF12.

(cropped the two quotes because too many characters)

[KageTokage]

Those field notes honestly make me feel more inclined to think that we're not going to be getting a continuation of the story, as it seems like Gabranth cared more about the overall state of the two nations then actually ruling them, so if they've already become the sorts of nations he envisioned, he's already "won" per say.

[Ronald_Bloodwings]

Those field notes honestly make me feel more inclined to think that we're not going to be getting a continuation of the story, as it seems like Gabranth cared more about the overall state of the two nations then actually ruling them, so if they've already become the sorts of nations he envisioned, he's already "won" per say.

Hence why I believe he'd sit back and judge them, fitting for him being the Judge Gabranth reference from FF12. Dalmasca has already been hinted at to be the one with potential problems in the future. Additionally those two weapons are very much wild cards in this since we have no idea what they are or what effects they could have on the user that could alter their views. To me, with the setup they've put the effort into making, it's a matter of 'when' they bring Gabranth back and not 'if'.