The Rise of the Adventurers' Guild

[Anonymoose]

I was hoping for some help in making sense of the AG narrative. I don't want to be quick to call it discrepancy, but something seems off.

Here's a list of relevant information and the points drawn from them.

1561

• The Eorzean Alliance forms

1563

• The Imperial Garlean Army withdraws to Ala Mhigo and begins construction of a defensive wall.
• The Age of Calm begins. Ishgard suddenly withdraws from the Eorzean Alliance

The Alliance forms in 1561, The Age of Calm begins in 1563 when the Garleans withdraw to Ala Mhigo.

And it was thus that Eorzea slipped into the "Age of Calm", during which an uneasy peace prevailed.

To prepare for the coming storm, the first task of the newly-formed alliance was to fortify their defenses. In the previous era, few city-states maintained organized militaries, opting instead to hire the services of mercenaries and hedge knights to champion their causes. However, after the fall of Ala Mhigo, city guard units were restructured into legitimate standing armies which could be quickly called upon and mobilized if he need arose.

Unfortunately, this left a majority of the realm's hireswords with nowhere to pledge their fealty, and with their livelihood ripped out from under them, many of these men and women resorted to acts of villainy to survive. For fear of the situation worsening and the land falling into chaos, several respected leaders from around Eorzea gathered together and formed a network of guilds to provide these lost souls with the opportunity to redeem themselves by aiding others.

The Adventurers Guild resulted from cultural changes brought about by the Alliance's existence.

I, myself, was once an adventurer, just as you. The Age of Calm had given rise to the guilds, and there was much work to be had. Work like these guildhests, though they were simply called behests back then.

Clarification that the Age of Calm gave rise to the guilds.

'Twas twenty yearsh ago, or thereabouts. With the realm finally at peace─or something reshemblin' it─a great mercenary captain had a plan. This man─aye, a livin' legend if ever there was one─brought all the shellswordsh who were itchin' for a new fight under one roof. So it was that the Adventurersh' Guild was─hic!─born, and there were no shortage o' eager applicants. Aye, everyone 'n' their uncle was lookin' to be an adventurer. Save for one young boy─the son o' the very man what founded it. This boy wanted only one thing─to follow in his father's footsteps and make his name as the greatest sellsword who ever walked the realm. Did the boy give up 'is dream? Did he reckon 'e'd already achieved it? Can't say for sure, lasshie, only that the boy is now a man, and the man standsh behind the counter at the Adventurersh' Guild, dispensin' advice to young glory-seekers like here, and ale to ol' drunkards like meself.

After the AG was founded, Baderon became a sellsword. Only later did he become a guildmaster and bar owner.

The Drowning Wench will always be a favorite among pirates— she's cheap, she's loaded with grog, and she never says "no." It's been a favored haunt of adventurers for nigh on twenty years, ever since a retired freelance and his comrades established the Adventurer's Guild here.

The Drowning Wench was established in roughtly 1557, the Year Ala Mhigo fell.

I weren't no more'n a wee sprat th' last time th' serpent rose up from the depths t' menace the city. An' I can tell ye now, ain't a soul who thinks on them days fondly.

Baderon (in 1572) thinks of himself as a young man (in 1562) when the serpent last rose.

The lettering on this envelope is so poorly done that it is only thanks to the keen eye of your moogle supervisor that you know it is addressed to Baderon Tenfingers, Drowning Wench founder and proprietor.

Baderon founded the Drowning Wench.

So, Baderon is named as the founder of the Drowning Wench, but it's said that the Wench was established 20 years ago. That's the same time that the Guild itself was established, so when did Baderon go out and become a sellsword? In the version 1.0 echoes, you can even see Baderon working the coutners as a young man in what it is assumed to be is 1562 (the non-echo-vision appearance of the starshower and the investigation of Eorzea by the Circle of Knowing - only Thancred's visit is confirmed beyond doubt to be dated as 1562).

I can't figure out a way to tell the story where it all fits properly from the fall of Ala Mhigo to Baderon running the Wench.

I do suspect there may be a contradiction in here somewhere, but (much like with the Sultana's age issue) I couldn't tell you where it might be. I also considered that perhaps the Wench was a bar without a guild in it, originally, but even that doesn't solve all my problems.

Anybody able to work it out?