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

[Alice_89th]

On the Adamantoise discussion, are Adamantoises a genus or a specific animal?
IE, are Iron Tortoises a type of Adamantoise, or are they two different animals.

In the latter case, it is entirely possible for the Iron Tortoises to have been around for ages, while Adamantoises were imported more recently.


(My apologies, I'm not a biology major so I don't know the correct use of all the terminology concerning species/genus/family etc)

[Anonymoose]

On the Adamantoise discussion, are Adamantoises a genus or a specific animal?

I'll have to get back to you on that one.

The Eorzean bestiary is centered around the Raimdelle Codex and was created in a "top down" manner - observations as source material. For this reason, it's common to see the names overlap like crazy. One genus of Soulkin is Coblyns. They're the little crystal bug things you see in Thanalan. Coblyns currently have two species, the yellow ones are called doblyns, and the blue ones are called ... coblyns. One subspecies (specific mob) of the Coblyn coblyn species is ... coblyn. This is both hyper-realistic, as real-world besitaries were once formed this way... aaaand it's confusing as hell. Trying to find all the legitimate names and build the correct bestiary has been one of GamerEscapes longest-running puzzles, lol.

[Skies]

Also of note on the Almaj'aa ash divination.
I don't think they ever made it clear if the tradition is the divination from the adamantoise shell or if it is the divination from bones of great beasts.
It could be either as the Iron Tortoises are the single strongest mobs in the area that are not spoken and the specifically ask for that of Iron Tortoises, the strongest variant of the two present in the area. And given their habit of, as long as the person has proven himself they care not for their origin or appearance, they could very easily have adapted to use the biggest baddest foe in the area which is not even native to it. After all, they are also nomadic, they probably don't have access to the shells everywhere they go (or everywhere they once went).
"Biggest game of the area" is likely a more plausible actual tradition than "Adamantoise".

[Kyan]

To continue with the adamantoise discussion, I am inclined to think that is indeed a genus for the giant tortoise (as well as an animal).
My reasoning is that adamantoise shells drop from the Iron Tortoise and Bronze Tortoise found in Southern Thanalan. The item description also states that the giant tortoise are "...now living throughout Eorzea," yet we only see adamantoise in the South Shroud area. Ok, it's not conclusive evidence, but it's good enough for me!

I do find Lacovie an interesting tortoise, though. She is the matriarch of her giant tortoise family, coming to the aid of her fallen children... Maybe they are like elephants after all! Hehehehe...

I'm also about to amend and update the original post. Thanks to all the contributors and corrected-ers!

Merry Christmas and much love! <3

P.S. if Santa is reading this, please give me a ticket that grants me passage to explore the New World to the West... Or a map! I want to see the world!

[Royal]

Thank you for taking the time to compile this. I can't wait till the lore is really opened up in this game.

[Enkidoh]

Some new info - spoilered for those who haven't done Heavensturn yet: the new Heavensturn event has revealed some new interesting social traditions of the Far East -

horses apparently are native to the region and are used much like horses have been used here on Earth throughout much of human history, from transportation to manual labour.

However, given how the Heavensturn event played out, they seem to have an almost zealous attitude towards them, even regarding other species which can serve the same role (read: chocobos), as 'inferior' - they refer to chocobos by the derogatory term of 'horsebirds', a funny bit of lampshading of a notorious incident that happened in 1.0's original release where the Chinese version of the client apparently indeed mistranslated chocobo as 'horsebird'.

It also seems the unicorns that are found in Coerthas are actually a separate species to horses, based on this event, although they both appear to be equines.

Just thought I'd add this as it was interesting to say the least.

[Kyan]

I currently have some international guests staying with me for New Years, but managed to sneak time in to do Heavensturn. Can I just say, that I cannot think of a better Christmas present than all the lore tid-bits added, as a want-to-be explorer of the wider world! Thanks Enkidoh - I have compiled a list, and will look at updating the information further towards Mid January when my Korean guests return home

[Kyan]

I also particularly liked the terms and sayings used, in reference to us as Eorzeans, as well as the term East and Far East. "The East" can indeed be interchangeable with "The Far East," and I would argue that it is a different place to Othard, as Othard is currently under Garlean rule so I would assume they would not worship gods. There is also a line delivered by the Far Eastern ambassador which indicates that they may worship the Twelve, too, or are at least very aware of them, which I found conflicting to my image of the Far East.

[zaviermhigo]

I gotta say a lot of things are popping up for me after reading this thread. I remember Someone saying Eorzea is Europe, and then from there on you compare the rest like the Far East and what not, there's even a region in the game from some lore on a fish I caught that sounds like America since it has inhabitants from many different regions/nations. Spinach, that in real life came from central and southwestern asia, I wonder if maybe the climate of the cids (i can't spell it) are similar to that. Horses although the they used to be indigenous to almost everywhere were killed off by something 10,000 years ago and really more modern horses link roots to the east, Russia/Mongolia. So its cool to see maybe real world still being a big source of geographical/climate/fauna - flora/ inspiration.

[Alice_89th]

So its cool to see maybe real world still being a big source of geographical/climate/fauna - flora/ inspiration.

The real world definitely seems to be the inspiration for a lot of the descriptions. Especially when you look at a lot of the botany items, their descriptions match a lot. (the origin of potatoes Popoto's and rice, for example).

Like you mentioned, Eorzea seems to take the spot of Europe, with some equivalent of America to the west and 'the East' being middle/east Asia. Aloe is mentioned in game to be native to the southern continent and in the real world it is native to Africa, so that matches as well. I am not sure whether anything matches Australia...

Ilsabard wouldn't really fit with this comparison though, as it is described as being (on) the northern continent. But there is nothing north of Europe unless you want to count the north pole. Looking at the world map however, the Garlean Empire seems to be where our Russia would be. So maybe they mean that by north? Then again, it doesn't have to match.

There is one thing that confuses me though. Aldenard is described as ''the westernmost of the three great continents''. Yet item various descriptions and quests seem to hint at there being something even more western. Whether that there really is a yet unexplored continent ... I don't know. I know it called the 'new world', but that could both be a hint at that it is yet unexplored, or another parallel to America

In the same way, the description says ''the westernmost of the three great continents''. But even if we leave out 'the new world' there is talk of northern, southern, and eastern regions. Then again it does say great continents, so maybe there are smaller ones as well?