History of migration in Eorzea: Where did the various races come from?

[TinyRedLeaf]

I wonder if anyone has come across more definite clues as to roughly where in Hydaelyn the "enlightened races" came from?

I've begun to think that the hyur originated in the east, as the hyur were the majority race of Ala Mhigo and are on at least equal footing with the native elezen in Gridania -- and both are east Eorzean nations.

I reckon that the roegadyn came from the north, with the sea wolves settling along the southwestern shores of Aldenard, while their hellsguard cousins pushed south and east across the Abalathian Spine.

The lalafellin were apparently a tropical people from the south islands. They first settled in Vylbrand and gradually branched into Thanalan.

I would guess that the elezen were originally from Coerthas, as they appear to have overwhelming majority in Ishgard.

As for the miqo'te, I don't have a clue. Perhaps also from the north? Or possibly from the "New World" in the far west, across the seas?

[FJerome]

There's actually quite a bit of info about this in the Naming Conventions threads, like the Elezen crossing into Ezorea from the North, Roegadyn come from the Northern Islands and the Seekers of the Sun Miqo'te coming in over frozen oceans, probably also from the North, given the warmer south/colder north climate of Ezorea.

(Generally there seems to be a lot of fleeing from the North involved. I feel like I'm in a reversed Fallen London.)

Two things I'd really love to know are where the Ishgard Elezen fit in the whole Wildwood-vs-Duskwight/Gelmorra business and when the Keepers of the Moon arrived. They don't seem to have come at the same time as the Seekers and given the different histories of their naming conventions I'd guess the Keepers arrived much, much earlier - that'd also fit with the diurnal vs nocturnal behaviors, the two groups seem to have split long enough ago that they're pretty much now different sub-species.

[RickiFake02]

Two things I'd really love to know are where the Ishgard Elezen fit in the whole Wildwood-vs-Duskwight/Gelmorra business and when the Keepers of the Moon arrived. They don't seem to have come at the same time as the Seekers and given the different histories of their naming conventions I'd guess the Keepers arrived much, much earlier - that'd also fit with the diurnal vs nocturnal behaviors, the two groups seem to have split long enough ago that they're pretty much now different sub-species.

I am fairly certain that the miqo'te all arrived at the same time, and the Keeper/Seeker split happened once they were here. I also vaguely recall reading somewhere that the Ishgardian elves were from Gelmorra/Gridania originally, but someone smarter than me will have to find the source for this.

[Enkidoh]

From what I understand the elezen were the first of the five races to arrive in Eorzea, and in actual fact, many of the early civilizations in Eorzea (read, the Allag Empire), were elezen. Gelmorra definitely was (this was confirmed both in game and also by Ferne). It stands to reason therefore that Ishgard was founded separately from Gelmorra, and hence accounts for the totally different society compared to Gelmorra and it's successor nation, Gridania.

It should be noted also that originally all the races only seemed to have one racial clan - the racial schism occurred only after Eorzea was settled (for instance, the duskwight elezen split from the main wildwood clan after the founding of Gridania - it states this on the main FFXIV website).

[Fluttersnipe]

The Mi'Qote travelled across a frozen sea in waves into Eorzea didn't they? There's a timeline thread kicking around this sub section somewhere that tells of how the races came to Eorzea.

[Naria]

The relatively short passage time vs. the appearance changes of some of the clans bugs me a bit also (we know for sure that the Duskwright and Wildwood split was fairly recent) but that's only when I'm assuming that Erozea plays by Earth's rules. Eorzea however has magic, which we have some evidence can cause huge physical changes with the padjal and tonberrys. Personally I just assume that is contributing to the difference between the clans, particularly for the Keepers and the Duskwright. Both clans are in similar situations of being outcasts in the Black Shroud and both have similar characteristics: grey tinged skin, larger ears and are nocturnal. I wonder if this is a result of living at odds with the elementals more than any evolutionary selection.

As for the cultural differences between the Keepers and the Seekers, if they did split after the migration (I'm not convinced of that, since the naming post says that some Keeper family names are believed to have survived since the 1st Astral and Seekers don't have true family names) then it may be that the Keepers were started by a bunch of Mi'qote feminists who decided to settle in the Black Shroud to make sure the Seeker clans didn't bother them. Or perhaps the spilt happened the other way and the Seekers are the splinter group, although that would have happened before migration to Erozea.