[Spoiler] Alliance Raid: Deryk...

[Seraphor]

I agree with Oschon, and I'm going with the Opo-opo being Llymlean, as it appears they travel in pairs of their respective element.
There's a lot of focus on Deryk as the guiding agent here, but I think Llymlaen, the Opo-opo if I'm right, is the real mastermind. We do gravitate towards the Opo-opo first after all, and Llymlaen is the Navigator.

I'm expecting the 2nd tier to follow Menphina > Halone > Althyk > Nophica, as a reverse order cycle of the first one. (the gates being on the opposite side of Omphalos in that order)
It also suits the mood of the raid too, we've faced the most aggressive elements under the impression that they were a real threat. Now that we're aware it's simply a "trial", the more passive elements of Ice and Earth suit for more reserved characters, the stoic warriors in contrast to the passion of Fire/Lightning.
Menphina: Skillet or Shield, defensive stuff with a lunar twist like Tsukiyomi.
Halone: Spear obviously, lots of Shiva similarities, maybe even dragon-adjacent Dragoon inspired mechs, stardiver/akh morn etc.
Althyk: Greataxe, time/space manipulation, more direct Earth-element content, think Titan/Sephirot.
Nophica: Scythe, more plant-based motifs, think Sephirot/Titania.

The 3rd tier then following Nymeia > Thaliak > Oschon > Llymlaen. Completely mixing up the order, but it does follow a pattern, each element has it's city-state patron as the 2nd fight, with the starting city-states as the final of each raid so that they can have their own battle theme.
Nymeia: Spinning Wheel, probably mechs that involve flowing fabric that transforms into water.
Thaliak: Staff and Scroll, gonna be hard pressed to differentiate this from Seiryu mechanically, lots of flooding.
Oschon: Bow, Bard stuff obviously, we haven't really fought any Bard enemies have we?
Llymlaen: Harpoon, sea/ocean setting with more direct wind stuff, so Garuda style tornadoes, chyrabdis, etc.

[CatSidheSilvie]

If we don't get a "SEE, THE MONKEY WAS SUSPICIOUS!" response when it is revealed as a deity/familiar, I'll be a little miffed haha.

I definitely like the idea of him as Oschon. Before reading any theories I was certain he was a deity and a lone deity of wanderers is perfect.

Based on his trepidation after the fight, I do bet there will be some drama though. It didn't come off like he's going "tee-hee-hee I know more than you do" or acting when he withdraws from us at the end. Has he lost his memory that he's a god, and the monkey is leading him without him knowing? Is he in on it but having issues with his coworkers/family/partner? I'm super interested in seeing if there is any dialogue when we face Menphina.

The first 1/2 of this raid had me rolling my eyes and going "well this is weird, just gonna like, kill the gods, I guess?" but I'm excited to see how it ends now.

[Cleretic]

I do want to lay down one thing that I hope will happen as we learn the true identities of all these mysteriously intelligent animals: That the shoebill will be none of them. Additional dialog will reveal that the shoebill is just a shoebill, it's just a normal-ass animal that likes staring at people sometimes.

Because the best possible thing they could reveal about the shoebill given everyone's theories is to say that we were making a big deal out of just a normal bird.

[Denishia]

I do want to lay down one thing that I hope will happen as we learn the true identities of all these mysteriously intelligent animals: That the shoebill will be none of them. Additional dialog will reveal that the shoebill is just a shoebill, it's just a normal-ass animal that likes staring at people sometimes.

Because the best possible thing they could reveal about the shoebill given everyone's theories is to say that we were making a big deal out of just a normal bird.

I hate the shoebill nowadays. It was a funny thing at the start of ShB but it overstayed the joke and the Ancient-related speculation means that I can't wait for the replacement joke minion.

[sidurgu-12]

I do want to lay down one thing that I hope will happen as we learn the true identities of all these mysteriously intelligent animals: That the shoebill will be none of them. Additional dialog will reveal that the shoebill is just a shoebill, it's just a normal-ass animal that likes staring at people sometimes.

Because the best possible thing they could reveal about the shoebill given everyone's theories is to say that we were making a big deal out of just a normal bird.

i love how meteions attempt at reading its emotions results in nothing lol.

[Cleretic]

Since this thread seems to be becoming the de facto 'Alliance Raid Disussion Thread', something's just occurred to me about them:

In real life pantheistic societies, when a new big-deal thing is discovered or invented, it was usually tacked on to the domains of existing gods. (Sometimes they made new gods, but that was rarer.) That's how you get those Greek and Roman gods with a bunch of weird unconnected domains, because the gods don't actually exist as singular, static beings; you can just say this new form of metalworking is now Hephaestus' domain, Hephaestus isn't gonna get mad at you for giving him more work to do.

But the Twelve are interesting because they actually are singular, relatively static deities. And yet in the raids so far we've already got Byregot, a god of industry wielding a blacksmith's hammer, and Nald'thal, a god of commerce who uses merchants' scales and has the symbol of an ancient form of currency. And those are just basic features of their being, there isn't a Byregot or Nald'thal without those things.

Doesn't it stand to reason, then, that Byregot and Nald'thal could not have come into being in a world that didn't already have industry, blacksmith's hammers, commerce, merchants' scales, and that specific form of currency? And that doesn't just preclude societies that hadn't invented them yet, but also potentially the late-day Ancients themselves, who used creation magic and so wouldn't have had a concept of a blacksmith's hammer, or possibly currencies.

[sidurgu-12]

Since this thread seems to be becoming the de facto 'Alliance Raid Disussion Thread', something's just occurred to me about them:

In real life pantheistic societies, when a new big-deal thing is discovered or invented, it was usually tacked on to the domains of existing gods. (Sometimes they made new gods, but that was rarer.) That's how you get those Greek and Roman gods with a bunch of weird unconnected domains, because the gods don't actually exist as singular, static beings; you can just say this new form of metalworking is now Hephaestus' domain, Hephaestus isn't gonna get mad at you for giving him more work to do.

But the Twelve are interesting because they actually are singular, relatively static deities. And yet in the raids so far we've already got Byregot, a god of industry wielding a blacksmith's hammer, and Nald'thal, a god of commerce who uses merchants' scales and has the symbol of an ancient form of currency. And those are just basic features of their being, there isn't a Byregot or Nald'thal without those things.

Doesn't it stand to reason, then, that Byregot and Nald'thal could not have come into being in a world that didn't already have industry, blacksmith's hammers, commerce, merchants' scales, and that specific form of currency? And that doesn't just preclude societies that hadn't invented them yet, but also potentially the late-day Ancients themselves, who used creation magic and so wouldn't have had a concept of a blacksmith's hammer, or possibly currencies.

two possible answers i can think of is:

1) they came to be because of the sundering.
or
2) they represent the spirit behind each of their domains and their forms match the current understanding of it.

[Iscah]

I've done a lot of disagreeing in these replies...

Deryk is certainly something suspicious but I think people are reading too much onto certain details that didn't seem significant to me.

There's also the whole thing about the small animals being the 12's forms when they don't fully reveal themselves and it looks like his may be a fish which you can see in Omphalos swimming.

Thalia seems far more likely to be represented by the owlet.

Plus the hair piece and the way they keep making sure we notice it

There isn't anything special about the hair piece (it's the male version of the Obsolete healer hairpin from Paradigm's Breach) and I don't think they've made a special deal of it. It does stick out a little oddly but that's a fault of the gear design itself.

The baby Opo-opo is either Althyk or Nophica's familiar. My bet is on Nophica if she is the final boss in the 6.3 raid. Opo-opo are located in the North Shroud for reference near Hyrstmill.

I wouldn't read too much into that. The exact names ones might be there, but it's a pretty common enemy type and the names don't always correspond to significance.

My guess on the final alter Krile mentions is probably the gateway to the Seven Hells and my bet is that the Twelve guard that realm in order to make sure people who die return to the atherial sea (Underworld) instead of going to the Seven Hells.

Given that the other portals lead to the six elemental heavens, the likely inference is that the central gate leads to the seventh. The question is what that might be.

My apologies if this is already answered somewhere - but this shot was extremely suspicious. Are those symbols meaningful in any way?

I'm not even sure what "symbols" you're pointing to. The tiny decorations on the wristbands? The belt? It's all standard player equipment (the wristbands are Ronkan Bracelets) and I don't feel like they're trying to make a feature on any symbols here.

I hate the shoebill nowadays. It was a funny thing at the start of ShB but it overstayed the joke and the Ancient-related speculation means that I can't wait for the replacement joke minion.

I thought the ambystoma was the replacement? Much cuter and a lot easier to pick up as a player minion, too.

[KageTokage]

Considering that there were some quirky Ancients who chose to create new life through natural methods like selective breeding rather then creation magicks, I feel like the same might've applied to other pursuits as well, in which case tools would've been needed.

The mention that this story arc is meant to be an "epilogue" to the Hydaelyn/Zodiark conflict still has me leaning towards the Twelve being a safety measure on the part of Venat and her followers to ensure mankind didn't just die off after the Sundering, though.

[Shookbeast]

Thanks for the info on the wristbands. Those were indeed what I was referring to. The shot in question does very weirdly dwell on them… I’ll have to do a little more digging.

Edit:
Is it normal for characters on the Source to wear armor from the First? Maybe that’s the clue in itself - and not the symbols…