A possible origin of Bismrack

[Morningstar1337]

Okay so as soon as I was able to enter fight I made some minor references to a certain doorstoper about a great white whale, and I was wondering if Bismarck (either in general of just XIV's incarnation) may had been inspired in part by the eponymous whale of that book?

I think it a little unlikely but there are certain similarities. With both whales being eldritch forces of nature, harpoons being used and if failing the enrage, the people being swallowed whole. At the same time, the WoL isn't Captain Ahab, (thought is ambiguous if Cid is the Ishmael in this or not, again if the enrage is failed), Brismark is not blatantly malicious (thought still a danger because of draining the aether and eating the islands) and dismemberment isn't even a factor.

[Shirobi]

Okay so as soon as I was able to enter fight I made some minor references to a certain doorstoper about a great white whale, and I was wondering if Bismarck (either in general of just XIV's incarnation) may had been inspired in part by the eponymous whale of that book?

I think it a little unlikely but there are certain similarities. With both whales being eldritch forces of nature, harpoons being used and if failing the enrage, the people being swallowed whole. At the same time, the WoL isn't Captain Ahab, (thought is ambiguous if Cid is the Ishmael in this or not, again if the enrage is failed), Brismark is not blatantly malicious (thought still a danger because of draining the aether and eating the islands) and dismemberment isn't even a factor.

I agree. I felt it was a pretty blatant homage to Moby.

[Belhi]

Yeah. Frankly its been a homage to Moby since ARR. There is a Limsa restaurant called the Bismarck about a legendary white whale from Sea Wolf legend.

The thing with Bismarck I really am interested in is how a see Wolf Legend turned into the god of the Vanu Vanu. After all the Vanu Vanu legend says that the White once swam in the seas until the other whales turned on him and he was rescued by some divinity and given the ability to swim in the Sea of Clouds. Seeing the Vanu Vanu also repressed by others he rescued them and carried them into the skies.

So the question is, what was the original Bismarck. An actual whale given the ability to fly by some magic as the legend says? Something the Vanu Vanu and the Sea Wolves mistook for a whale?

[Rawrz]

Time to make some theory up on the spot while I update my computer >.<:
The original white whale was a rare speciman who's ambergris held tremendous value in allagan society for its use in complex perfumes, but forbidden in the interest that they keep the resource from going extinct. Using ships (The other black whales) poachers of their time tried to claim the whale, wounding it to the brink of death with harpoons made to hunt dragons, before allagan peace keepers drove them from the whale with their own ships.

A group of Allagan scientest that had found them at the time, had been testing a technology that would allow flight in areas with highly saturated wind aspected aether, much like Cid's Technology, 5000 some years later. Noticing how droplets of the whales blood, after being exposed to the naturally saturated wind aether above sea level, would cause vast and forceful ripples, as if the water itself was trying to keep its blood from hitting the water; as if the wind was trying to lift it into the air. Realizing that this might be the key to their break through, they ordered that the whale be dissected and its blood synthesized. After just weeks a synthesis would be made, protypes for flight perfected and the first model Allagan warship would rise to the heavens from the wind saturated sea. It would be named Bismark, after the scientist who discovered and synthesized the blood of the last known albino whale, and in its honor, he had it painted white so that all could see how one creature could change the history of all mankind, so long as they were willing to sacrifice for the sake of progress.

[Belhi]

My theory has been that Bismarck was the name of a Allagan submersible warship that just happened to be white in color that operated in the area, perhaps linked to the Allag ruins on Seal Rock. The Sea Wolf legend arises from Sea Wolf ancestors being attacked by the submerged vessel, only seeing its white bulk below the waves. The Vanu Vanu were another chimera race created by the Allag who worked like slaves in an Allag instillation. One day the crew of the Bismarck rebelled against the military leadership at the base (the other whales attacking Bismarck being other Allag ships) and the Bismarck took the Vanu Vanu and escaped into the Sea of Clouds where they unloaded them on Sky Islands where they thought the Vanu Vanu would be safe.

[Shirobi]

Do you honbestly think, given what we know about the Allagans, they would have cared about animals going extinct? They would cloned him and used half the clones for fuel and tortured the other half for fun.

[Belhi]

Your talking about the Allagans like they were a single entity. Do remember that the Allag population rebelled against their leaders.

The Allagans went really dark towards the end but that doesn't mean all Allagans were bad people.

Perhaps toward the end the crew of the Bismarck, unable to stomach the treatment of the proto Vanu Vanu, decided to rebel and smuggle the Vanu Vanu away from their incarceration. Perhaps the civil war was already starting and they decided to gather the innocent Vanu Vanu and escape the fighting. There are a lot of possibilities. Xande triggered the calamity because he was on the cusp of losing his throne and was trying to fast track his plan.

[Shirobi]

Snip

You realize you are talking about a people who, even before their decline, were perfectly fine with sealing away huge swathes of other races and feeding off their souls, and who had consumer slavery stores that sold bio-engineered slaves and monsters for the populace's amusement, right?

[Morningstar1337]

You realize you are talking about a people who, even before their decline, were perfectly fine with sealing away huge swathes of other races and feeding off their souls, and who had consumer slavery stores that sold bio-engineered slaves and monsters for the populace's amusement, right?

Yeah I'd have to agree with Shirobu there, until we know why the people rebelled (power grab? attempt at a revolution? Distrust with a Noble Ruler who is unlike Xande in any way? Manipulation by some influential politician for his own ends?) I'm willing to withhold judgment on wherehter the people rebelling were doing so for altruistic reasons