Prepare to have your mind blown

[RolandDebreton]

Here is a sample, I've drug multiple people in with me:

[Mireille]

Mor Dhona head 6, 15, you'll see a little finger of land heading north by north west. As you curve down it will take you under the landmass of 6, 14 and back around to 7, 15. Please be extraordinarily cautious, Smolenkos occupy the tunnel, they tend to be 80+ and are sight based. The site is a conal affair, use that to your advantage.

Thanks,

I've soloed the 'Been There Done That' achievement on 4 characters including one that only had level 1 jobs. Getting to this should be fun. They need to add an achivement for finding places like this to the exploration section. Put a ??? to click on in place of attunement or something.

[Halvaard_Vidan]

The 7th Umbral is actually an echo experience and players are really living in the 2.0 future.

I've been thinking this for a while.
The easiest explanation for anything (in a story) is: it was a dream/memory.

[Inzoum]

Here are the options I see:

20+ years pass between Dalamud's impact and 2.0, Players 'wake up' in the future somehow
-or-
The 7th Umbral is actually an echo experience and players are really living in the 2.0 future.
-or-
Dalamud is sent back in time before it hits (Atomos?) and it alters the present day as a result.

Actually, there's a 4th option:

Screw the story, let's just blow up the world so Version 1 ends, and Version 2.0 starts fresh as if nothing ever happened, like a new game, but where you get a head start with quests done and levels and whatnot if you've played Version 1.

Personally, I think it's going to be #4, even though that'd be the most disapointing, storywise

[Jynx]

It aint gonna stop, it's coming for us.

[Asiaine]

The 7th umbral will come and we'll be in a new world.. but this will really be a flash-sideways to an alternate relaity, and when the 8th umbral comes we'll be shocked back into our original world.

But that is nothing! BOTH of those are actually flash-forwards of our lives from when we were in Vana'diel! One day, after everyone has all DarkLight and 100 anima, we will finally wake up from this crazily incepted world and find out we are we are still back in the Kingdom of Coneria.

[Davorok]

Hmmm...Trying to apply Real World Physics to a Video Game World (full of concentrated magic crystals) is probably rather foolish, but here is my attempt anyway:

tl;dr version (I don't really know what that means but I think it applies here):
The Garleans use the spell "Meteor" to bring Dalamud close to our planet causing massive changes but we learn and use the same spell, Meteor, to save our planet.

long boring version:

Perhaps Dalamud is not a moon at all but rather a ball of concentrated Red Crystal Aetherite (negative energy both literally & figuratively) and although it is small in size it's mass is so great that it exhibits tremendous gravitational pull on anything it comes near. (Much the way Black Holes seem to work in our universe/dimension.) It is a remnant of the creation of our solar system but it "gobbles up" Energy Crystals when it comes near or if objects travel near it.

Dalamud is not in orbit around our planet but rather is in a long elliptical orbit around our "Sun". The "Astral Eras" are when Dalamud is traveling away from us and the "Umbral Eras" are when it is is traveling towards us. The "7th Umbral Era" is when Dalamuds orbit passes at it's closet point to our planet, thus causing massive changes in the topography every however many years that is in the lore.

During these 7th Umbral Eras some civilizations get destroyed (likely whoever is unlucky to be facing Dalamud when it passes) while other civs on the planet survive despite being cut off from the rest of the world or in some cases because of it. Cultures are lost, discovered, lost again, rediscovered but sometimes lost forever.

This 7th Umbral Era is different though in that the Garlean Empire wants to alter the natural orbit of Dalamud in an attempt to use it's power to target certain areas of the planet, whether it be to wipe out rival civilizations or to "activate & control" the Red Crystals locked within our world is unknown but I suspect that World Domination is definitely the goal. They probably think that with the command of Red Crystals they can destroy the Primals, not realizing or caring that they may destroy all life, including their own.

Our true moon (I forget the name, Menphina?) was likely created when our planet was created (which Dalamud may have been part of that creation as well) but whereas our planet seems to contain both Blue (positive) Crystals and Red (negative) Crystals I suspect the Moon has a higher concentration of Blue Crystal and may not have any Red Crystal present at all.

I think that the Garleans are going to use the powerful spell "Meteor" to try to control/alter Dalamuds natural "fly-by" orbit (possibly trying to "hold it in place" so to speak) which begins a tremendous reformation of the planets topographies, landscapes and seas like has never been seen before. Massive crystalline structures tear through the crust as mountains rise and fall, waters retreat and roll to form new seas as civilizations are destroyed, lost and found.

As with all Evil Plots, this one goes awry as the Garleans are unable to "release" Dalamud back into it's natural orbit thereby causing our planet to begin to rip apart so it befalls us, The Woken Ones, to save the World from destruction...and how do we do that you may ask?...

...by all of us casting "Meteor" on our Blue Crystal Moon to activate it's Positive Energy in order to push the Negative Energy of Dalamud away from our planet and back into it's long orbit around the sun, as we start the next 1st Astral Era and the cycle begins again with old & new civilizations rediscovering each other and/or discovering each other for the 1st time...in a long time.

As for the "Twelve Gods", they are just mythos & superstition based upon the 12 Bodies in our Solar System: the Sun, our planet, our Moon, Dalamud and 8 other planets and or moons of planets which by their natural orbits alter and change our world in subtle and drastic ways.

The Primals, however are real beings, or rather embodiments of Negative Red Crystal Energy, summoned by those that pray to and attempt to manipulate that energy. They have no moral purpose for "good or evil", they simply exist to carry out the "purpose" of Negative Red Aether which is that of destruction.

Positive Blue Crystal Energy is what "allows" life to exist, by permeating all of life itself while also keeping the negative energy at bey. We "humanoids" (for lack of a better term) that inhabit this world (and possibly others) seem to be an anomaly in the Natural Evolution of Life, in that we seem to be able to (in fact have proven to have the ability to) greatly affect each other, other life forms, even the planet itself in either Positive or Negative ways.

This is probably why many of us believe in a God (gods or aliens) that "created" us for a specific purpose (or perhaps simply as an experiment) and thus when times are good (positive) we feel blessed by the gods and when times are bad (negative) we feel abandoned, esp. when more and more hearts seem to falter and fail when confronted by adversity. It seems easier to "give in" to the negative energy of only looking out for one's self as opposed to the effort it takes to look out for another.

This is where we, the "Woken Ones" come in. Our "purpose" seems to be to aide those in need, protect the innocent and defend the faith of those who believe in the Positive Energy of our world and each other. We can inspire others to stand against evil (negative, destructive energy) and when the Evil Powers are at their strongest, we can band together to literally Battle the Incarnations of Evil whether they be men, beasts or gods.

This is all, of course a mixture of science, conjecture, religion and superstition but whatever the true nature of our cosmos and our very existence I believe there is no denying that both Positive & Negative Energy exist and that we are better off when we "accentuate the positive, eliminate the negative and don't mess with Mr. In-Between".

Whatever the outcome of these unfolding events, I hope to stand proudly with many of you as we explore, discover and defend those attuned to the "Crystal Blue Persuasion".

[Griss]

The more i think about it the whole every thing were seeing and interacting with is a super echo theory. The more I like it. It gives the dev team a lot of wiggle room to explain stuff like the character recreation, the speed of the map changes.

Over all I think that's why i really dig the magical maguffin they have chosen in general to "Explain" whats going on. There is just so much they can chock up to after effects of Dalamud. Hell they could even probably get away with saying that the changes we have already seen are due to time space ripples of the Dalamud event.

[VytasBismarck]

OK now i'm sorry i skipped all the CSs spamming that enter key -.- Off to the inn i go~, oh wait UD inn is closed... /cry

[Quietus]

Got to page 7 and couldn't help thinking - yoshi and the team must be pooping their pants because I think the speculation is WAY more detailed than anything they're planning on giving us.

I hope I'm wrong. 1 because pooping your pants is embarrassing and 2, I like what I'm hearing in here!