Revelations from Tales from the Twilight

[Wyssahtyn]

MuH nEpOtIsM REEEEEEEE

[Enkidoh]

On the topic of the "moon's doom", like Moose said it's just ambigious enough to slyly hint towards EW, however, when read through the strict context of the story itself and the time period of that story, it's more likely that it's meant to be referring to Dalamud and Bahamut, given that the story takes place pre-Seventh Calamity.

Although Bahamut was never mentioned in 1.0 as being inside Dalamud like Moose said until the End of an Era trailer when 1.0 shut down, there was one hint - Jenlyns's unexplained exclamation of "Bahamut's Fang!" during the first PLD Job quest in 1.0 (which of course was added when the 'Seventh Umbral Era' events were in full swing and the Calamity was looming large), and his exclamation was retained in the ARR version of that quest, but he never clarified why he said it (my guess at the time is that it was just a generic cuss word given how the Primals were casting such a pall over Eorzea, and Bahamut was not yet shown so it's likely his name remained as some kind of cultural meme, but nothing was proven either way).

But either way, it's pretty obvious from Kan-E's point of view at the time that the "Dooms from the Moon" omen from the elementals was referring to Dalamud and Bahamut, but it was just ambigious enough to also from the player's point of view at the end of 5.0 to maybe take it also as a subtle hint towards EW - these stories are meant to help link into EW after all. But that's just my theory so yeah, you're free to draw your own conclusions.

[Iscah]

In terms of Gridanian leadership, wasn't O-App-Pesi the Elder Seedseer in 1.0? Maybe I'm remembering incorrectly, but I feel like he was more important back then. Would they be putting this new Padjal in between them? I'm super hazy on this bit of the story, and a quick look in the EE says "in another age he could have been Seedseer, were it not for Kan-E."

I think you're misunderstanding the quote from the book.

What it means is that in another era, if he hadn't lived at the same time as the extremely talented Kan-E, it's likely that he would be the person to be chosen as Seedseer. But because it was a decision between him and Kan-E, he wasn't chosen.

[Mieck]

I think you're misunderstanding the quote from the book.

What it means is that in another era, if he hadn't lived at the same time as the extremely talented Kan-E, it's likely that he would be the person to be chosen as Seedseer. But because it was a decision between him and Kan-E, he wasn't chosen.

Nope, they were supposed to be two separate points. I thought O-App-Pesi had a larger role in 1.0 and wondered if anyone else remembered, or was able to confirm. I then went to check the book and came back with the update from book.

[Enkidoh]

Nope, they were supposed to be two separate points. I thought O-App-Pesi had a larger role in 1.0 and wondered if anyone else remembered, or was able to confirm. I then went to check the book and came back with the update from book.

O-App Pesi technically was the CNJ's Guildmaster at Stillglade Fane back in 1.0 as E-Sumi Yan was until the moment the player arrived out in communion with the elementals in the forest, and was closely connected with 1.0's original Gridanian storyline - E-Sumi's unexpected return to Gridania was thus a sign something very bad was happening. Or at least, was until about ten years before the Calamity (when the Archons arrived, the event of which the player experienced through the Echo, but didn't realize it was in the past at that point).

And now in ARR, they seem to have swapped, with E-Sumi designated as the CNJ Guildmaster at Stillglade Fane with O-App in the forest communing with the elementals... at least until Odin brought him back and he's been in Quarrymill ever since.

[Rosenstrauch]

Well, that's four of five stories down. With each story being either directly or one degree of separation away from the leadership of the various Eorzean Alliance nations (and Doma), I have to wonder if the fifth story will be focused on someone important from Ishgard or Ul'dah, and which one seems more likely. Might even be we'll get a double feature. Or perhaps the final story will be focused elsewhere? Dunno.

The subject matter of this one was pretty nice for me—anything about the Elementals is a boon in my eyes. Actually having them be more active in the lore/setting seems like one of those things that got scaled back hard in the jump to ARR, which makes me wish I'd been around back then to play and experience it for myself.

[Cleretic]

The subject matter of this one was pretty nice for me—anything about the Elementals is a boon in my eyes. Actually having them be more active in the lore/setting seems like one of those things that got scaled back hard in the jump to ARR, which makes me wish I'd been around back then to play and experience it for myself.

From what I can tell, 1.0 seemed to really want to set up the Shroud as the big focus for their endgame; not only were the Elementals very prominent both in story and in actual in-world presence, but 1.0's endgame currencies and materials weren't Allagan; they were Gelmorran. Once Yoshi-P took over was when the Allagans started taking center-stage.

To a degree, I think that's the right move; the way 1.0 was angling the Shroud as a region was going to dominate the endgame, which wouldn't have felt right for a game that was supposed to be more equal in how it distributed its focus. But I think they went too far in the other direction; they de-emphasised the original intended endgame of the Elementals and Gelmorra so hard that it's now been eight years and we've barely had any content about either of them.

And to a degree, A Realm Reborn didn't avoid that regional imbalancing anyway, it just hit it from another direction; it's unarguable that especially in the 2.x patches, Ul'Dah became the 'main city' of the game. It just got that way narratively rather than structurally.

[Mieck]

O-App Pesi technically was the CNJ's Guildmaster at Stillglade Fane back in 1.0 as E-Sumi Yan was until the moment the player arrived out in communion with the elementals in the forest, and was closely connected with 1.0's original Gridanian storyline - E-Sumi's unexpected return to Gridania was thus a sign something very bad was happening. Or at least, was until about ten years before the Calamity (when the Archons arrived, the event of which the player experienced through the Echo, but didn't realize it was in the past at that point).

And now in ARR, they seem to have swapped, with E-Sumi designated as the CNJ Guildmaster at Stillglade Fane with O-App in the forest communing with the elementals... at least until Odin brought him back and he's been in Quarrymill ever since.

Thanks, that's cleared up my confusion. I didn't take a massive amount of screenshots in 1.0, so don't often have as much resource to fall back on for any lore rooted in the pre-Yoshida era.
(For comparison, I have 98 gig of screenshots for 2.0 onwards. Comes in very handy when I need a specific line of dialogue!)

[Yuella]

The last one is about Ishgard

The golden-haired boy is Zephirin and he implied that Thordan had tempered him when he was in school

[Mieck]

5/5
An Empty Throne


Edits, etc


Initial thought upon reading the blurb... what a week for a story about House Fortemps...

I had hoped for a little more Laniaitte and Emmanellain, to see if she was really completely tired of his boorishness even back then, but I suppose that will have to remain headcanon for the time being! I think the main thing I got from this story was this line.


We cannot easily forget that which had defined us for so long. Thus do we struggle to rebuild our lives.

Made me think that could be a defining theme for 6.1 onwards. However the finale between Zodiark and Hydaelyn goes, there will be pieces to pick up and costs to count.