Duty Commenced 09 - Lore Lowdown (Aetherytes)

[Anonymoose]

Ehh, just gonna do a double post for the conversation starter so I don't muck up the OP summary.

The first question we can discuss was brought up almost immediately when we posted the Lore Train entry on Twitter (Hi, Myranda!): How is the Falcon's Nest aetheryte 1,000 to 1,500 years old when it's clearly in a post-Calamity version of the settlement? I'll take a stab at it, though Occam is not a fan of my current conclusions. (Oh, and by "stab," I meant essay.)

My first impression was "Don't think too hard about it." Look around; there are a few things about 1.0 Ishgard that the design team clearly loved the idea of changing slightly more than the lore team hated the idea of retcons. One need look no further than the Vigils for evidence of this. Also, all of the NPCs hanging around HW Falcon's Nest confirm that 1.0 Falcon's Nest was a tiny hamlet village and Ishgard rebuilt a fortress where it once stood, to the relief of some and dismay of others.

This led to my second idea - Ishgard just lugged one in from... somewhere. Tailfeather has an "early" aetheryte, maybe they just took one from nearby. Idyllshire has an "early" aetheryte, too. Maybe Rowena oversaw the selling and transportation of one - maybe there was one in Arkhitekton storage. But... why would they do that? Look at Ishgard's use of post-calamity Aetherytes. Foundation, Camp Dragonhead, and even Camp Cloudtop are sporting Sharlayan reverse-engineering. Why wouldn't they just order a fourth?

This all leads me to my current best-guess, based on this quote:

When it became clear that the snow would not stop falling, we had no choice but to order a complete withdrawal. The settlement─and the entirety of the western highlands─were to be abandoned. ...Abandoned to the heretics. Lady Iceheart and her kind have walked these lands with impunity ever since.

The heretics had uncontested control of the area for roughly five years. I figure they might have brought one in from Dravanian lands and the Ishgardians, upon reclaiming the settlement for reconstruction, just figured, "Woohoo, free kit!"