Some goodies from Fernehalwes at EU fanfest.

[faris]

Me and a friend managed to corner the fantastic Fernehalwes at fanfest and asked him a few questions about certain things in FFXIV's lore. Of course, being the awesome guy he is (and the fact we had him backed up against a very painful looking drop) he answered.

I figured I'd post this for those that have wondered, to share the wealth. Keep in mind this certainly wasn't an interview, just a brief chat, and the gelmorra information is a straight copy of what my friend's written elsewhere, since it was her question and I can't really surmise the ins and outs of the conversation faithfully.

First, I asked him this question, whether or not the archons have any kind of ability (perhaps a variant of the echo, meaning all of their interactions with us have been themselves using it to speak to us) or perhaps a prolonged life, given the fact that they haven't changed appearance at all since before 1.0 (in 1.0's echo cutscenes) to now, when other NPCs around them have aged remarkably. (Minfilia, F'halminn, etc.)

• His answer was that in Sharlayan, they've always prized knowledge, and as a result of extensive knowledge in all fields, have some techniques that render themselves with (essentially) a form of cosmetic they can apply to prolong their ......remarkable good looks when everyone around them ages.
  
• It's unknown whether their techniques are purely for vanity or some other reason; and truthfully myself and Ferne didn't get that far along in the conversation for me to ask.
  
• The bottom line that I got from Ferne is that the Archons are indeed fully human, and are as susceptible to dying/bad stuff as anyone else- and certainly don't have any form of enhanced lifespan as Archons.
  
• I didn't get far enough in the conversation again to ask what exactly the deal was with Y'shtola's replication of herself in 1.0/ability to stop an axe with her bare hands/ability to bend matter away from her (Gaius van Baelsar's bullets for example) much less other fun abilities the other Archons have (Thancred's ability to outrun bullets / insane luck meaning he could swindle Neillefresne / Papalymos ability to open small rifts for said bullets to be sucked into / Yda's reflexes / Urianger's ability to call monsters as examples) if they aren't anything but human, so I'm assuming personally that 1.0 things have been retconned since story wise, the Archons do seem to be portrayed in a much more human light in 2.0.
  
• My next question was the clan that Urianger belongs to. In 1.0, a lot of players were under the impression he was Duskwight (goggles, paler complexion, facial tat, and his ears - as well as the fact his substantially lighter skintone now can be replicated for Duskwight in the character creator) and Ferne responded ambiguously that he can't say quite yet.
  
• Apparently 2.4 has some information about the Archons, I assume that Urianger's history may very well be included.

Perhaps even, Urianger's history may be a bit of a surprise. Who knows.

My friends questions (and as stated above; this is a direct c+p of her summary of their conversation) revolved around Black Shroud Duskwight and Gelmorra. Here goes.

• Gelmorra can be dated to the early sixth astral era.
• Wildwood elezen were in the Shroud before the ixal. Timing of the entrances of sylphs and elementals are one of the things he escaped before I could ask him more about.
• At some point, either the elementals came to the wood or the elementals took offense to the actions of the elezen, particularly cutting down trees and the building of settlements. At this point, the elementals forced them underground.
• Over many, many generations (‘a thousand years or more’) a split developed among the elezen. While the elezen who wished to return to the surface stayed close enough to it to remain wildwood, the elezen who didn’t care for the surface didn’t see sunlight in generations, and eventually became duskwights.
• Eventually Gridania was formed. The elementals allowed the elezen (and midlanders, who came onto the scene at some point during this time as midlanders are known for doing) to build a settlement within the wood as long as they followed a very long and very strict list of rules.
• While there were some exceptions - a handful of duskwights went to the newly founded Gridania while a few wildwoods remained in Gelmorra - as a rule the wildwoods were only too glad to return to the surface regardless of the cost to their freedom, while the duskwights wished to keep thier freedom and the home they had made for themselves out of the elementals’ reach.
• More time passed. Eventually the elementals allowed the duskwights to return to the wood without all of the rules that the wildwoods were bound to follow. Unfortunately the people living in the wood didn’t quite get the memo. The a more extreme version of the Gridanian attitudes to duskwights that we see ingame followed. In addition, the duskwights were prevented from returning to Gelmorra out of fear that allowing them to brazenly return to the surface and then go back underground might be a massive offense.

Regarding duskwight outside the black shroud;

• Elezen outside the shroud were never forced into Gelmorra and thus never became duskwights. This is the reason for the relatively small number of duskwights in eorzea - a lot of elezen, living in places like Coerthas were never in the conditions that created the Duskwight race.
  
• That said, Coerthas has a somewhat substantial duskwight population. It’s nowhere near as large as its wildwood population but considering the significantly lower number of duskwights, it’s a lot of them.
  
• The reason that Coerthas has this duskwight population? The actual reason Fernehawles gave? Things are much better for them there than in Gridania.
  
• Thanalan and Vylbrand also have duskwight populations but they’re small, owing to the fact that Thanalan isn’t the most comfortable place for someone who is adapted to dark, damp, cool places and also the fact that Vylbrand has an ocean in the way.

-- If Ferne is reading this at any point, I just wanted to say thank you so much for talking to/tolerating us, (your escape was very brief, I wondered if I actually said thank you enough times) and as well, thanks for making fanfest so awesome in your participation in multiple things. Your vocals on Titan's theme ? Nailed it, dude. Didn't even know you could growl like that.

[Grayve]

Thanks very much for the information. I wish the lore panels has been hours longer... can't wait for the 2.4 information we shall learn.

[FJerome]

Thank you so much for asking these questions and to Ferne for answering them.

[MercuryD]

All hail our favorite Ahriman

[Nialle]

I've noticed the undercurrents of bigotry around Gridania (random NPC talk, etc) against Duskwights. It's a sad state of affairs when the xenophobe religious zealots in Coerthas are more accepting of Duskwights than Gridanian elezen are.

[TinyRedLeaf]

His answer was that in Sharlayan, they've always prized knowledge, and as a result of extensive knowledge in all fields, have some techniques that render themselves with (essentially) a form of cosmetic they can apply to prolong their ......remarkable good looks when everyone around them ages.

So that's the real reason Yda wears a mask. She's too lazy to apply her glamours, and too vain at the same time to reveal how old she really is.