Diabolos

[Kyan]

The War of the Magi definitely includes Nym and Amdapor, but I think it is still nondescript enough to include other cities which we, as players, are not aware of.

That being said, what makes me question the origin of black mages is the fact that there are black mage tonberries in the Scholar quest: You venture inside Amdapor Keep, and there are tonberries wearing black mage robes and hats. We could infer that either black mages were present in Nym, allied with Nym, or the-merchants-which-are-now-tonberries used their time locked away in the Keep, after their transformation, to harness and practice the black magic arts.

Also, the summoning of powerful voidsent is quite possible with a group of black mages - as per the final back mage quest. But at what cost? Lives? Destruction of the land? Well...

...I certainly don't want to call forth anymore than my ahriman mount from the void, that's for sure.

[Anonymoose]

or the-merchants-which-are-now-tonberries used their time locked away in the Keep, after their transformation, to harness and practice the black magic arts.

That would make them tonberry black mages, not black mage tonberries!

Really, I think anything we say is purely speculation.

• We know it was the "enemies of Amdapor," but we don't know if it was the enemy we know by name (Nym).
• We know it was "dark magicks," but not if it was specifically Black Magic.
• We know that people of all classes turn up in every city, not just the city that hosts that seat of power (ex. guild)
• If it was black magick, we don't know where their seat of power was in the first place
• If it was the black mages, we don't know if it was their main "host" or a fringe element

We can talk about what-ifs all day long, but realistically, we know nothing. So, I mean, have at it. Any crazy theory until we get enough information to light up this thread again. I'll go ahead and throw my coin in with the silly fringe theory I posted earlier until we find something better.

[Melinia]

[*]We know that people of all classes turn up in every city, not just the city that hosts that seat of power (ex. guild)

Not entirely true. There seems to be at least one major exception to that. AFAIK, there are currently no Arcanists outside of LL, and no Scholars or Summoners in the game anywhere.

[PArcher]

Not entirely true. There seems to be at least one major exception to that. AFAIK, there are currently no Arcanists outside of LL, and no Scholars or Summoners in the game anywhere.

Well, that's not entirely true. The ACN Guildmaster is MIA, traveling the land (and your mentor joins him), but I'm sure I've seen ACN in other places (I don't pay attention a ton though. RT probably has some...and of course we have the Elezen Scion "I can't spell his name") and there ARE other SMN around (that was a pretty big point of the SMN storyline...)

Technically, you are the only (known) BLM after that story finishes, and besides the tonberry(s), you are the only (known) SCH. There are other DRG, WAR, PLD, WHM, SMN, BRD and MNK, but you are "special" with regards to the others.

[Velox]

Technically, you are the only (known) BLM after that story finishes

I believe Lalai and Ququruka are Black Mages (NPCs that start the BLM job line). They are wearing different colored BLM AF sets.
Really the only "job" where you are sole member is Scholar, as you (the player) are the first to have access to these magicks since the destruction of Nym and the tonberry transformations.

[Lusavari]

Not entirely true. There seems to be at least one major exception to that. AFAIK, there are currently no Arcanists outside of LL, and no Scholars or Summoners in the game anywhere.

The Inquisitor you fight in the Ishgardian Arc of the story was an Arcanist, though he didn't summon. He used Bio spells against you and held a book until he transformed. Also, Uriangre (sp) in the main story is a summoner and he has an Amber Carbuncle instead of a Topaz one, which he summons when you break him out of prison in the main story.

[TinyRedLeaf]

...there ARE other SMN around (that was a pretty big point of the SMN storyline...)

While I understand where you're coming from, saying that there are other summoners around is a bit of an overstatement: there was actually only one other summoner around prior to you and, in any case, he's dead. As far as the story is concerned, you, the player-character, are the only legitimate summoner currently in existence. The hope, though, is for you to revive the ancient art, so there may be more to come in the future.

The Inquisitor you fight in the Ishgardian Arc of the story was an Arcanist, though he didn't summon.

I'm not certain if Ishgardian mages are arcanists. They may use grimoires but it seems they are identified as astrologers, and may therefore practice a different form of magic. (In case you're wondering, the Astrologer class/job does exist in Final Fantasy lore. It appeared in Final Fantasy Tactics, and FFXIV in particular does seem to draw heavily from Ivalice lore.)

Also, Uriangre (sp) in the main story is a summoner and he has an Amber Carbuncle instead of a Topaz one, which he summons when you break him out of prison in the main story.

I would think the fact that Urianger summoned Carbuncle clearly defines him as an arcanist rather than as a summoner. Let's be clear here: to qualify as a summoner, one must first defeat a Primal. And there's no record anywhere of any of the Archons having actually fought and defeated a Primal — they all conveniently pushed the responsibility to you, the hero. So, I highly doubt Urianger is capable of summoning an egi, though he may very well be a powerful arcanist indeed.

[A_Magical_Unicorn_Rider]

Seems like this went WAY off topic. Started talking about Diabolos, ate a donut, now I'm killing hookers, what is this i dont even-

[Darske]

I'm not sure if it was recently added in the latest patch or not, but I got some interesting dialogue from Raya as a BLM when asking her about White Magic, which was basically a small infodump on the origins of White and Black magic. I don't have the conversation in front of me, but basically it implies that White Magic was created as a balance to Black, mending to balance the Black arts of destruction. The two function on the same principle though, which is drawing power not from oneself but from the aether around them.

Which raises a very interesting parallel in my mind to the primals, don't you think? She goes on to say that a war between Black and White magic drained so much from the land that it led to the Umbral Era of that time. Now, what I think is really interesting in relation to Diabolos is how the Lost City isn't devoid of life. Far from it, the place is overflowing with life, with rampant mold and fungi everywhere. And since there seems to be more rampant life the closer to Diabolos's sanctum you get, it's really got me wondering if perhaps in desperation for more Aether, the white mages of Amdapor turned away from the land they bled dry for power, and sought the strong Aether of a different source... the Void.

Judging from the state of the city, I'd say they got more than they could ever have hoped to handle. So my theory is that the white mages opened a door to the void, hoping perhaps to channel its energies through the white magestones, and ended up unleashing something truly terrifying in the process. Perhaps the magestones themselves are the source of the rampant growth, outputting so much void-tainted aether that they've warped life in the city to its present state. And until now, Diabolos (a very powerful Voidsent, perhaps their ruler) has been waiting in that city with an open door to our world, waiting for the day the seal on Amdapor finally fades.

[TinyRedLeaf]

White and Black magic.... the two function on the same principle... which is drawing power not from oneself but from the aether around them.

I would like to discuss this plot point from another angle, specifically that of the modern-day problem of the rampant summoning of Primals which threaten the delicate balance of aether in Eorzea.

The fact that there have only been two summoners in recent memory is relevant to this point. That's because the other summoner was essentially a rogue mage who had been encouraged to revive the magic by the Ascians.

It fits their modus operandi: Throughout the story, the Ascians have been actively abetting individuals or communities to summon Primals out of fear or hatred. It's not just the beast tribes that have fallen for their ploy, but also members of the "enlightened races" like the Ala Mhigan refugees and the moogles.

We may not know much about the true nature of a Primal, but we do know for a fact every Primal requires prodigious amounts of aether to sustain.

Which leads me to believe that the Ascians' overall plan may well be to induce an Umbral event through the rampant summoning of Primals, through any means.

If one thinks of aether as Hydaelyn's lifeblood, it may well be that the Ascians are ultimately trying to kill Hydaelyn through this plan.