The Heavens' Ward and Other Notable NPC's of Ishgard (Lore Questions)

[Grimmel]

During the 3.0 MSQ the Heavens' Ward members were a pretty big part of it. I was almost expecting to get more information and more scenes including them maybe even background stories. But now that 3.0 MSQ is all said and done with, I can't help but feel robbed of an important part of the new expansion.

We know so little about the Heavens' Ward and it's members and even more so with the members that were not a part of any major scenes or dungeons like Zephirin, Charibert, Grinnaux, and Adelphel were.

I guess what I'm asking for here is more lore on the members of the Heavens' Ward.
Where did these members come from?
What walks of life did they start out on to get to becoming such high ranking knights?
How old are they all in comparison to one another?
How do they interact with one another on a daily basis?
Is/Was there any internal conflict between the members at times?
How did members of the Heavens' Ward react with members of the Temple Knights?
Do any of the Heavens' Ward have any affiliation with the high houses aside from Grinnaux?
Who is Aymeric's mother?
How old was the Archbishop when he helped conceive him?

Please, Fern, Give us more! We Heavensward Lore Freaks need more!

[FJerome]

I'd really like to see this in relation to the fact we've just gone and killed the Archbishop and 12 high-ranking knights and Aymeric seems to have covered it all up (he signs the treaty rejoining the Alliance in the name of the Archbishop, after all). Aren't the knights' families going to start missing them after a while? Inter-house politics means House Dzemael's inevitably going to start asking after Ser Grinnaux soon, if nothing else.

[wer]

Seconding this! At least give them a little canon story, like the one with young Haurchefant. I would love to see more insight on these characters.

[Belhi]

It would be nice. Having said that, I can see why they left them out of much development. HW had a lot of stuff happening in it and characters it was developing already. Some, like Hilde, have only gotten pretty minor development so far.

Still perhaps we will learn a bit more about them in retrospect as we continue to do quests in Ishgard. I suspect the political situation in Ishgard will feature a lot in the following patches. Dzemael seems to have been set up as a semi-antagonistic high house for any politics to come.

[Seunkii]

Yes, please!

Anyway, scroll down to see the knights' names: http://finalfantasy.wikia.com/wiki/Heavens%27_Ward

One thing I was just thinking about the other day, how old was Aymeric's mom or what was she thinking?! Given the age gap between Aymeric and Thordan VII, he probably looked that old already when Aymeric was conceived :X.

[Belhi]

Yes, please!

Anyway, scroll down to see the knights' names: http://finalfantasy.wikia.com/wiki/Heavens%27_Ward

One thing I was just thinking about the other day, how old was Aymeric's mom or what was she thinking?! Given the age gap between Aymeric and Thordan VII, he probably looked that old already when Aymeric was conceived :X.

She was probably thinking that the Archbishop was an incredibly powerful and important figure. Since we have no information on her, her motivations based on that are hard to predict. To be fair, if you shaved 25 or so years off the Archbishop he probably wouldn't look quite so archaic. Its would have probably been around the age that Count Fortemps is now.

[treuhavik]

Who can say what will come of all this? The greenwrath is so thick about the city, even I can feel it—and I'm not even a bloody conjurer!

Grinnaux was a God's Quiver Bow in the year 1562 of the Sixth Astral Era. Now, I've seen a fair amount of names reused from 1.0, so that's still a possibility here, but his character model too, as far as I can tell, remains identical, which is odd. It's likely a case of reused assets, but there's potential for some sort of story there.

[Dalvy]

totally want to hear more about the heavens ward, what families they came from, etc. Are they going to be replaced or is the cover-up saying that they are all on some top secret task? I imagine it won't last forever, not with heretics spreading the truth.

Grinnaux was a God's Quiver Bow in the year 1562 of the Sixth Astral Era. Now, I've seen a fair amount of names reused from 1.0, so that's still a possibility here, but his character model too, as far as I can tell, remains identical, which is odd. It's likely a case of reused assets, but there's potential for some sort of story there.

I think that's just re-used assets. Grinnaux de Dzaemal is an important part of that family (i.e. Jannequinard de Durendaire, etc)--it would be hard to explain why he would run off to join the Gridanian military, when he's pretty much into being a bruiser for Ishgard's.

[SirPhoebos]

I'd really like to see this in relation to the fact we've just gone and killed the Archbishop and 12 high-ranking knights and Aymeric seems to have covered it all up (he signs the treaty rejoining the Alliance in the name of the Archbishop, after all). Aren't the knights' families going to start missing them after a while? Inter-house politics means House Dzemael's inevitably going to start asking after Ser Grinnaux soon, if nothing else.

Are we certain the Heaven's Ward are dead? We see Thoran VII croak, but that's it.

And I don't think Thoran VII's death is actually a secret. It's just that such little time has passed that Aymeric hasn't really had a chance to install a new government. Since no new government has been declared, it makes sense to stick with Aymeric representing the Holy See until he figures out how things will be run (especially for someone like Nanamo that always keeps things formal). And if anyone wasn't aware of the change would have at least noticed that neither the Archbishop nor any of his personal representatives were present at a major public event.

[Delily]

I'd really like to see this in relation to the fact we've just gone and killed the Archbishop and 12 high-ranking knights and Aymeric seems to have covered it all up (he signs the treaty rejoining the Alliance in the name of the Archbishop, after all). Aren't the knights' families going to start missing them after a while? Inter-house politics means House Dzemael's inevitably going to start asking after Ser Grinnaux soon, if nothing else.

On one hand, I doubt Ayermic covered up anything. His character is written to be the type to explain the various nobles that the archbishop and the Heavensward became primals and were defeated by the Scions. Also, I doubt the houses will directly act against him, as he has the full support of the Alliance and the Scions. I think for the most part, they, like the rest of Ishgard, are waiting to see what comes next. Then again, I never got the impression the houses were as manipulative as the Monetarists in Ul'dah.