Teleporting

[Sholah]

Very little prior to the calamity.

I don't know how you're missing all of it, but there's a lot of information of history before the Calamity. To name a few:
-The war between Ul'dah and Sil'dih over water that ended in a zombie apocalypse for the Sil'dihn civilization (the ruins are in Central Thanalan).
-The Autumn War between Gridania and Ala Mihgo, which brought us the Grand Companies, chocobo barding, and the adventuring profession (to give out of work soldiers something honest to do).
-The rise of the Garlean Empire, their sudden advancements in technology, and their conquering of Othard and Ilsabard.
-The Battle of Silvertear Skies in which the Garlean fleet was swarmed by Midgardsormr and a horde of dragons over Mor Dhona. The resulting ceruleum explosion of the downed Agrius blew the aetheric seal on Silvertear Lake apart and unleashed the Primals and killed the land of Mor Dhona.
-The Gelmorran civilization that dwelt underground in the Black Shroud because the Elementals refused to let them live in the forest. Eventually Gelmorra evolved into Gridania but left behind the Tam-tara Deepcroft and the Thousand Maws of Toto-Rak.
-The Nymian civilization and their constant war with Amdapor, in which they repeatedly came out victorious despite smaller numbers because of their Scholar magic. The Amdaporians eventually killed themselves due to reality-warping magic. The Nymians fell to the tonberry plague.
-The biggest of all is the Allagan civilization and what exactly happened to them. The Crystal Tower and the moon Dalamud (and subsequently, the Binding Coil of Bahamut) were both built by them.

[mouseno4]

I don't know how you're missing all of it, but there's a lot of information of history before the Calamity. To name a few:
-The war between Ul'dah and Sil'dih over water that ended in a zombie apocalypse for the Sil'dihn civilization (the ruins are in Central Thanalan).
-The Autumn War between Gridania and Ala Mihgo, which brought us the Grand Companies, chocobo barding, and the adventuring profession (to give out of work soldiers something honest to do).
-The rise of the Garlean Empire, their sudden advancements in technology, and their conquering of Othard and Ilsabard.
-The Battle of Silvertear Skies in which the Garlean fleet was swarmed by Midgardsormr and a horde of dragons over Mor Dhona. The resulting ceruleum explosion of the downed Agrius blew the aetheric seal on Silvertear Lake apart and unleashed the Primals and killed the land of Mor Dhona.
-The Gelmorran civilization that dwelt underground in the Black Shroud because the Elementals refused to let them live in the forest. Eventually Gelmorra evolved into Gridania but left behind the Tam-tara Deepcroft and the Thousand Maws of Toto-Rak.
-The Nymian civilization and their constant war with Amdapor, in which they repeatedly came out victorious despite smaller numbers because of their Scholar magic. The Amdaporians eventually killed themselves due to reality-warping magic. The Nymians fell to the tonberry plague.
-The biggest of all is the Allagan civilization and what exactly happened to them. The Crystal Tower and the moon Dalamud (and subsequently, the Binding Coil of Bahamut) were both built by them.

Only fragments of those topics i have personally seen in quests. If i had to take a guess how many quests on this character, i have not completed (due to completely missing them) i would say under 10 total in the entire world.

I have completed - at a guess - 95% of all quests within the game. This means i have read countless quest dialogues, watched cutscenes and other such information.

The extent to which the subjects you mention are discussed is akin to nothing more than in passing. ''This area once used to be the dominion of XYZ civilisation. I need you to go there and do XYZ.'' <-- this is the entirety of what the quests i have completed talk about those topics. Great, they MENTIONED a civilisation's name. But that does not encompass its history. Not in the least.

[Enkidoh]

-The Autumn War between Gridania and Ala Mihgo, which brought us the Grand Companies, chocobo barding, and the adventuring profession (to give out of work soldiers something honest to do).

Uh, please correct me if I'm wrong, but it was my understanding that the Age of Adventuring began following the Battle of Silvertear Skies (due to the build up of mercenaries that arrived in preparation for a Garlean invasion of Eorzea proper that never eventuated, and hence the Adventurer's Guild was then formed to supply employment for these now unemployed and heavily armed men and women).

The original game's manual states this and the official website used to as well, as shown:

The Age of Adventure
The guardian gods and goddesses known as the Twelve watch over the city-states of Eorzea. These tiny nations carved out a history of blood and betrayal, forging and breaking alliances as each warred over territory and sought to impose uncompromising interpretations of their patron deities' will.

The fate of the land would, however, soon change. Not fifteen years past, a new threat appeared from the east-the might Garlean Empire. With its fleets of behemoth airships and warriors brandishing weapons that spewed streams of fire, it crushed Ala Mhigo, the most powerful of the six Eorzean city-states. Galvanized by fear of a common foe, the remaining nations joined in a clandestine alliance. Fortunately, the dreaded invasion never came and an uneasy peace prevailed. Thus it was that Eorzea slipped into the "Age of Calm".

As the city-states continued to develop regular standing armies, a growing number of mercenaries and hedge knights found themselves without employment. Concerned at the rise in number of armed men and women resorting to acts of villainy to survive, several respected leaders gathered together to form a network of guilds. The guilds provided these lost souls with the chance to utilise their talents for the benefit of themselves and others.

Through the foresight and resolve of these leaders a new industry had emerged-and the era of adventuring had begun.

I know the Autumn War did involve the other citystates allying with Gridania though, but from what I was aware (based on the above info and other sources) the title and status of 'adventurer' didn't exist in the way we now know them at that point in time.

[Raist]

Think you may be over estimating it with the 95% figure. If you get around to playing more classes and get deeper into their related jobs, more of the story gaps will get filled in. Didn't really want to do WAR/PLD to 50, but once I got them going I got sucked into the stories and will have to finish them eventually. Probly have to bite the bullet and do SCH eventually too, but holding off on that until some old XI friends join. That way I have something I can use when we take them through their first runs and I can be on their level to make it more fun. I'm also looking forward to being able to switch allegiance to the other nations one day so I can get the extra fillers from the other nation's early quests as well. It's a pretty short track until they merge into the GC story line, so they aren't nearly as in depth as they were in XI, but I'm sure there are some nice nuggets of background info in there just the same.

[Sprinks]

We will never forget...

[mouseno4]

Think you may be over estimating it with the 95% figure. If you get around to playing more classes and get deeper into their related jobs, more of the story gaps will get filled in. Didn't really want to do WAR/PLD to 50, but once I got them going I got sucked into the stories and will have to finish them eventually. Probly have to bite the bullet and do SCH eventually too, but holding off on that until some old XI friends join. That way I have something I can use when we take them through their first runs and I can be on their level to make it more fun. I'm also looking forward to being able to switch allegiance to the other nations one day so I can get the extra fillers from the other nation's early quests as well. It's a pretty short track until they merge into the GC story line, so they aren't nearly as in depth as they were in XI, but I'm sure there are some nice nuggets of background info in there just the same.

I was referring to the NON-class specific quests actually. I know the quests exists for SCH, THM, BLM, etc etc but the 95% was in fact a correct estimate when NOT including class specific quests.

I have literally only just finished the SMN quests and i have each and every one of those class quests clearly in my mind. The story of those have almost no relevance to the history of Eorzea. Yeah great, my character is following in the footsteps of age old Summoners and their Egi summons are what power they once held, their clothing are considered relics of their particular age etc etc. But that is just so incredibly vague and spartan in story. It tells me almost nothing of the Allagan (sp) relics with which are now my character's clothing.

THIS is what i refer to. The entire story of the Summoner quest series tells me almost NOTHING of ANY of Eorzea's history. Apart from ''yeah this stuff is old''.

[Sholah]

Uh, please correct me if I'm wrong, but it was my understanding that the Age of Adventuring began following the Battle of Silvertear Skies (due to the build up of mercenaries that arrived in preparation for a Garlean invasion of Eorzea proper that never eventuated, and hence the Adventurer's Guild was then formed to supply employment for these now unemployed and heavily armed men and women).

The original game's manual states this and the official website used to as well, as shown:



I know the Autumn War did involve the other citystates allying with Gridania though, but from what I was aware (based on the above info and other sources) the title and status of 'adventurer' didn't exist in the way we now know them at that point in time.

You're right. Apologies. =P

[Raist]

Actually, there are tidbits to fill in some of those gaps on the job specific quests, as Sholah was telling you earlier. You also get focused background on certain areas based on what city-state you start in... why I'm looking forward to SE eventually implementing a mechanic like we had in XI for easily switching allegiance so we can experience the extra content. If it is already in there, haven't hit it yet... but I still have a lot of ranking up to do as well.

[Wadoka]

Here's the Great Question.

The Allags had the tech, and the power, to construct Dalamud and imprison Bahamut.

Why didn't they destroy Bahamut instead?

Narrative Causality? Plot Armor? It only makes sense, when you've captured bloody Megatron you break him down into his constituent molecules. You don't just wrap him in chains and dump him in the Challenger Deep.

[Sholah]

Here's the Great Question.

The Allags had the tech, and the power, to construct Dalamud and imprison Bahamut.

Why didn't they destroy Bahamut instead?

Narrative Causality? Plot Armor? It only makes sense, when you've captured bloody Megatron you break him down into his constituent molecules. You don't just wrap him in chains and dump him in the Challenger Deep.

They had the other primals imprisoned under Silvertear too. As far as the elemental primals go, they can't be killed forever. It's possible Bahamut has a similar situation and they were keeping him in a corporeal state so he couldn't be resummoned. It's also possible they were weaponizing him and had him up there as their ace-in-the-hole, given the armor/restraints he's wearing... The BCoB story touches on this too.