Ardbert's Party vs the Scions Analysis

[Theodric]

It doesn't help that a lot of the depth and grit has been eliminated from Sharlayan altogether. I always liked how creepy and unsettling the music and aesthetics were whenever we encountered something tied to Sharlayan in the past. This being the nation that sent assassin squads out in the world to kill those who shared forbidden knowledge. Then when we finally get there not only is it suddenly sanitised considerably...it's now little more than a quirky college town full of overeducated but socially awkward scholars.

For some reason it also has a lot of male viera within despite being such a secretive, isolated nation and their ilk being exceedingly rare to begin with when it comes to that whole 'leaving the forest' thing. Though I suppose consistent world building and sensible NPC placement has been thrown out of the window at this point...

[MikkoAkure]

It doesn't help that a lot of the depth and grit has been eliminated from Sharlayan altogether. I always liked how creepy and unsettling the music and aesthetics were whenever we encountered something tied to Sharlayan in the past. This being the nation that sent assassin squads out in the world to kill those who shared forbidden knowledge. Then when we finally get there not only is it suddenly sanitised considerably...it's now little more than a quirky college town full of overeducated but socially awkward scholars.

For some reason it also has a lot of male viera within despite being such a secretive, isolated nation and their ilk being exceedingly rare to begin with when it comes to that whole 'leaving the forest' thing. Though I suppose consistent world building and sensible NPC placement has been thrown out of the window at this point...

Heavensward Sharlayan still had the same buildings and aesthetics in the main Sharlayan in Endwalker. The buildings look the same, but have been abandoned for years, which makes anything creepy especially when paired with magic. I wouldn't expect a populated Sharlayan with the same aesthetics that were introduced in HW to still be creepy. The only Sharlayan we meet living in the old colony is a witch in a cave, which obviously isn't representative of the whole country. We already knew from 1.0 that they were very philosophy and scholar-oriented and we learned in ARR about the academy they have so I don't see anything as having changed. The "assassination hit squad" was just one guy with very conservative opinions and his minions. It wasn't sanctified by the nation as a whole, it was one forum member.

As far as the male viera go, I was confused at first but it makes sense when you think about it. Just like western universities in our own world, Sharlayan has for centuries attracted learners from across the world. They also send out gleaners across the world. It would make sense for the gleaners to come across the viera and isn't outside the realm of possibility for a curious male viera who otherwise would have a rough life alone in the woods to want to do something different and join a gleaner back to Sharlayan and become a gleaner himself. Besides Lyna and Fran, who are both introduced outside of the woods, there are other NPCs we come across and we witness one leave ourselves. They haven't completely filled the world with them, there's only 4 male viera NPCs in the whole game. Considering they can live to be 300+, it's obviously rare, but still within a realm of possibility for an extremely small handful of them over a period of 100 or more years to get collected or curious and follow collectors to Sharlayan and be there for a very long time or even make more viera with female members who, like the rest of Sharlayan, are no longer representative of their original culture. Just like how Mikoto can't be looked at as a representative of the main center of au ra culture on the other side of the planet.