Hydaelyn at large (is there a compilation of info yet?)

[tymora]

[Fauna]
Goobbues have an additional function to spread vegetation across the lands. On death, plants germinate from the corpse and spread in the nearby area. - (Can't remember quest) See corpse east of Drybone.
A species of grapes used to make prized wine was thought to be extinct after the catastrophy but was found on the back of a Goobbue in Raincatcher. (Quest from Wineport, can't remember name)

Unicorns are natives of Coerthas and are rarely seen. (Unicorn mount quest, WHM guild)

Horses exist but are not native to Eorzea. (Mentioned by one of the moderators)

[Flora]
If you look around the landscape, you'll notice that the flora scattered around are actually pretty detailed and unique, so much so it will be possible to document all of them.

Only catch is that most of the flora you see will be unnamed.

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From 1.0, if I remember correctly, Ascian natural form is that of a wispy Grim Reaper like creature. All beastmen fear them.

[Catapult]

I am wondering if this sentence subtly implies if the East (Near East? Far East? Othard?) have a different set of gods or faith.

When Garlemald invaded Othard, they came up against a primal opposition. It is implied that the primals of Othard were different to the primals of Aldenard. And given how primals behave, this might be related to the "gods" in question.

Let's also recall that the Ascians were attempting to goad some Ala Mhigan youths into summoning Rhalgr, using the same techniques as a primal. Can you see where I'm going with this?

[Enkidoh]

That was an interesting revelation though - but then a little logic needs to be applied. Given the natural untrustworthy and darkly ominous nature of the Ascians, there is no real proof that what the Ala Mhigan kids would have ended up summoning really would have been Rhalgr anyway - it could have been anything for all we know, a Primal, or some other kind of aetheric entity masquerading as Rhalgr's form (and it's probably something the player will never know, probably a good thing).

After all, look at Good King Moggle Mog the XIIth, it's been stated he is not a Primal despite being summoned in the same way and having the exact same level of control and corruption over those who summoned him. It's highly likely the ultimately thwarted plans of the misguided Ala Mhigan kids to summon Rhalgr could have ended up with similar (and potentially dangerous) results.

[Royal]

How do you guys think Hydaelyn and the 12 are connected? The 12 are supposed to be gods so they are definitely alive somewhere in some form. Do the people of Eorzea have the ability to summon the 12 like the primals are summoned? I'm hoping at some point we bring them back. Maybe to seal Bahamut away after we awaken him again in the coils. So much potential for lore, I hate waiting on it.

[Anonymoose]

How do you guys think Hydaelyn and the 12 are connected?

I'm throwing my loyalties in with my own theory: The Twelve are just mythological figures based on stories of great Allag figures, and when we summoned "their" strength, we just shaped the unstable, imbalanced aether to our prayers. This would also explain what primals are. Who knows, though. Open door!

(Yes, I have been lurking this kickass thread for a while, I've just yet to have much to add, lol.)

[Royal]

That's the only part of the lore that annoys me. Yes you can find little things embedded in quests and thrown out here and there but the big stuff is also unknown. Oh well, I hope they bring in a big library like some of the past games. We'll see.

[Toranja]

When Garlemald invaded Othard, they came up against a primal opposition. It is implied that the primals of Othard were different to the primals of Aldenard. And given how primals behave, this might be related to the "gods" in question.

The only thing implied from Gaius' speech was that Garuda wasn't one of the Primals smacked by Ultima back then, if it was actually used.

I'm sticking with the theory there are only as many Primals as there are Elements - six - at any given time. Otherwise, how and why gather the six different crystals during our questing around Eorzea? However, one nice plot twist would be fact that someone (or something) can challenge a Primal (or God) for its status. This opens room for Odin's current status.

[Kyan]

The gods of the East could indeed simply be primals - and most likely if the East is equal to Othard. But the fact that they said "East" rather than Othard, makes me think it is the Far East. Interestingly, there are a lot of Lalafell connected to the Far East, as an aside - a lot of fish are gifted to Eorzea from Lalafell royalty from the Far East.

To continue with primals... Oh gosh, now I have to scour my resources. This is second hand knowledge, as I have not got every class to 50. To the south, there were also primals, correct? Primals which prevented the Allag from initially conquering that southern continent? Something to do with Summoner, etc?

So, is the "South" alluded to be Meracydia?

[Catapult]

And this all brings us back to the fact that we still don't fully understand what the Primals actually are, let alone the elder primals and other aetherial beings out there.

Ah, the joys of a mystery. ^_^

[InjaTheNinja]

Is it at all possible that there may be two primals per element the same way there are two gods per element? There's still a lot of mystery about the rest of Hydaelyn. Perhaps the beast tribes around the world used to know of both, but favored one so much for so long that the other was forgotten over the eras. This leaves an option of at least hearing about other primals from far away lands in future patches and maybe, just maybe, meeting them.

If, however, there are absolutely only six primals in all of Hydaelyn, then perhaps they can change how they look to best impress whatever group summoned them. This means that the Ala Mhigan youths who went to summon Rhalgr with some ritual they knew nothing about may, in fact, have been summoning Ifrit who would then have taken on a more humanoid shape because that's what they expected. Or he may have fallen on them as he does with the Amalj'aa. We'll never know.