Tale of Emet [FF14 x Nier Reincarnation event story]

[Cleretic]

The gap between Magitek and time travel however (and I would argue Crystal Tower Tycoon and Alexander as well) is large. Emet notes that as well, which is why he kidnaps Graha.

Yeah, the impact on Cid on the time travel functionality is honestly much less about Cid and the Ironworks being technically knowledgeable, and much more about the fact that Cid and the Ironworks saw and wrote down details of a time machine. A time machine that, I should reiterate, did not have to make actual scientific sense, so it's questionable how well the Ironworks' notes actually described its mechanisms.

[KariTheFox]

A time machine that, I should reiterate, did not have to make actual scientific sense, so it's questionable how well the Ironworks' notes actually described its mechanisms.

I'm not so sure about that - because Alexander was summoned by the Illuminati, who seem to value scientific knowledge and technology above everything else, thier belief that Alexander should follow scientifc principles, even if nobody currently understands them, means that he does.

Sort of using the power of primal summoning to leapfrog ahead in technology.

[Cleretic]

I'm not so sure about that - because Alexander was summoned by the Illuminati, who seem to value scientific knowledge and technology above everything else, thier belief that Alexander should follow scientifc principles, even if nobody currently understands them, means that he does.

Sort of using the power of primal summoning to leapfrog ahead in technology.

That's likely accurate, but you'd still have some unconscious shortcuts going, and presumptions taken as fact. Like, we in the real world have theories as to how a time machine could work, but that doesn't mean those theories are necessarily true; if we had access to primals, the crowd that are sure that the TARDIS was logically sound could summon one that would work even if the world actually ran by Terminator rules, but that wouldn't mean that actually building a TARDIS would work.

Alexander helped in answering one half of the equation; to make a time machine you need to know how time travel works and how to make a machine that can do it, and Alexander demonstrated the former. Making the technology is still really hard, and the Illuminati didn't actually prove anything about it.