Why are there pixies, etc. on the First but not the Source?

[Iscah]

And it appears the mystery is further deepened when it's shown that the Ancients, once again, had something to do with it, as a pixie appears during a certain sidequest later on in Elpis, with the bewildered Ancient researcher assigned to it having no idea who created it or where it came from, suggesting a lack of accompanyning paperwork of it's concept.

And it even turns into a beaver too, that the WoL immediately realizes, and the even more incredulous researcher basically throws in the towel and says in defeat "Now let us never speak of this again," so it's clear the Ancients just... swept it under the rug, leaving the mystery ultimately unsolved.

So, once again... "something something Ancients" are the cause.

That's not how it goes, unless there was an actual appearance by a pixie that I completely forgot about, but I believe you are getting muddled with The Abyss Stares Back where we learn that the researchers just found the shoebill with no idea where it came from.

The pixies are referenced in Unexplained Mysteries – researcher sends you to find his "nymphai" which he refers to as familiars and there is no hint of a mystery behind their origin. You can only find beavers in the indicated search area, and the researcher seems like he might know why they transformed, but he doesn't explain himself and just tells you never to speak of it.

On a side note, I don't understand why we act quite so traumatised by the beavers. The pixies are terrified of them but we've surely recognised what's happening, and they've never caused us any harm.

[Cleretic]

On a side note, I don't understand why we act quite so traumatised by the beavers. The pixies are terrified of them but we've surely recognised what's happening, and they've never caused us any harm.

I mean, I can give you two answers there, on different sides of the fourth wall.

1. Because it's funny. The WoL has faced down murderous armies, demons, abominable parodies of gods, biblically-accurate angels, unkillable ghost wizards trying to destroy everything they hold dear, and the embodiment of depression and entropy, and yet the thing that gets them to react with revulsion and fear is beavers. (Well, and Rowena, which works on the same principle.)

2. In-universe, because it's unknowable. Yeah, we know that HAPPENS, but we don't know how, we don't know why, it seems harmless to us but we can't honestly be sure. It's something I generally call 'Doctor Who Horror', because it's something Doctor Who does extremely well; it's absolutely family-friendly and nothing clearly and recognizably horrifying is happening, but there's this intensely wrong feeling about it, a much more abstract fear. Sure, it's played as comedy for us (which Doctor Who tends not to do with this stuff), but it's genuinely just unsettlingly unknown to them.

[YianKutku]

I wonder if that's why the Slyphs enjoyed making people dance and enjoy going around using glamors. Think they have the same language on the source?

I have to wonder whether the moogles are actually a type of fae folk as well.

Honestly I've been thinking about this ever since Shadowbringers.

In ARR, it's pretty clear that the game writers were going for "the fae folk" when it comes to first the Sylphs, then the Moogles: playful and cheerful on the surface, but with no sense of the frailty of mortals, or when a game stops becoming fun. A lot of the comments from NPCs warning us about Sylphs and Moogles are along those lines, implying that the Sylphs might have killed people before simply due to "playing around" and "mischief". (I can't recall the exact words, but if not "killed", then certainly "hurt badly".)

However, when we actually meet the Sylphs and the Moogles, they're relatively chill (tempered brethren aside) and quite understanding, and in fact we mortals are the ones who are more threatening to them.

So the Pixies of the First feel like the writers finally getting to show the "fae folk" archetype properly. Which does mean it might be possible that the Sylphs might have learned their alleged mischief-making from ancient proto-Pixies, but had it smoothed over by longstanding interactions with humans.

(I don't know what the deal with Moogles are. They exist on the Source and the First, so they probably have an origin in the Unsundered World.)

[SannaR]

Honestly I've been thinking about this ever since Shadowbringers.

In ARR, it's pretty clear that the game writers were going for "the fae folk" when it comes to first the Sylphs, then the Moogles: playful and cheerful on the surface, but with no sense of the frailty of mortals, or when a game stops becoming fun. A lot of the comments from NPCs warning us about Sylphs and Moogles are along those lines, implying that the Sylphs might have killed people before simply due to "playing around" and "mischief". (I can't recall the exact words, but if not "killed", then certainly "hurt badly".)

However, when we actually meet the Sylphs and the Moogles, they're relatively chill (tempered brethren aside) and quite understanding, and in fact we mortals are the ones who are more threatening to them.

So the Pixies of the First feel like the writers finally getting to show the "fae folk" archetype properly. Which does mean it might be possible that the Sylphs might have learned their alleged mischief-making from ancient proto-Pixies, but had it smoothed over by longstanding interactions with humans.

(I don't know what the deal with Moogles are. They exist on the Source and the First, so they probably have an origin in the Unsundered World.)

It would also sort of explain why the Slyphs always ask for fruit and the like to be placed on top of the buildings. Sure, they say that they think it's funny for us to do that and they like the food being there. But what if that's their way of making sure the pixies aren't forgotten about. So that they can still be hidden, but also be given offerings.