Recreating the Aetheryte Network - Post-Calamity

[FaerieAura]

Hello all!

I posted here awhile ago about a plan to eventually start up a D&D campaign set in Eorzea. I've actually got it started now with a few members from my free company who were interested in giving it a shot, and it's been going great so far! We've had a total of four sessions, with the main plot just beginning to unfold (I post the campaign notes here if anyone is interested in seeing what my goofball PCs get into each week). I've had to make a few minor adjustments to the lore surrounding the world - one of my players wanted to play a Dark Knight, for instance, so I just let it happen with a minor handwave. For the most part, though, I'm trying to stick to a plausible story of what happened in the year that followed the Calamity. Right now, the focus is on a certain group who are associated with Voidsent, but long-term I also want the party to have the option to focus on rebuilding the world.

In particular, from various NPCs I've talked to around the world in the present-day game, it appears that in the aftermath of the Calamity most of the Aetheryte crystals were destroyed, or at least rendered inoperable. In the long term, I plan on making restoring some of the aetheryte camps and city crystals part of the campaign, but so far I've had no luck in determining where the crystals came from, or how they are made. The fact that an aetheryte crystal exists in Azys Lla has made me think they might have been an Allagan creation, given that they are said to exist primarily in Eorzea and that was the seat of their empire. Does anyone have any ideas about this, or other stories that they think might be interesting to explore in rebuilding the world?

[Rocl]

I would peruse this summary/xpost of Aetheryte Lore given to us during a Duty Commenced stream: http://gamerescape.com/2015/10/28/lo...-lore-lowdown/

The majority of Aetheryte you'd encounter immediately following the Calamity would be those "Ancient Aetherytes"-- the ones 1.0 players would be familiar with.

As for where they come from: the ancient Aetherytes we just don't know, and neither did Eorzeans. It can be assumed the majority of early Eorzea settlements occurred around these structures, imo. The Sharlayans appear to be able to recreate these ancient Aetherytes judging by their workshop in the Hinterlands and later work in restoring the Eorzean Aetheryte Network.

Judging by the difference between the Helix aetheryte and the others we find throughout Eorzea, and the fact Azys Lla should've been created in the twilight of the Allag Empire, we can assume that the ancient Aetherytes of Eorzea are not an Allag design. That's not to say we know for certain aetheryte aren't a fundamental Allag technology though.

EDIT: Freakin' Moose

[Anonymoose]

In particular, from various NPCs I've talked to around the world in the present-day game, it appears that in the aftermath of the Calamity most of the Aetheryte crystals were destroyed, or at least rendered inoperable.

Correct. Some crystals were destroyed by Atomos directly, others were destroyed by Bahamut's rampage, others just stopped functioning after the aetherial rivers were so drastically changed. I like to imagine that one or two out there just happened to avoid all of these things - spared by Atomos and Bahamut and in a location that just happened to still have an aetherial river passing through it. But such a thing has never been confirmed.

To elaborate on the former, the membrane between the corporeal world and the void is in constant flux, causing the worlds to drift every so slightly in distance. Sometimes they overlap, and Voidsent are able to come through. Dalamud's descent caused quite a "wobbling" of this membrane, and Atomos would enter through one of these larger-than-usual holes in the world and start draining as much aether as he could. His preferred method was to hover over an aetheryte camp and basically use the crystal as a straw. This over-aspected the crystal (making teleportation to it free until it was ultimately destroyed).

In the long term, I plan on making restoring some of the aetheryte camps and city crystals part of the campaign, but so far I've had no luck in determining where the crystals came from, or how they are made. The fact that an aetheryte crystal exists in Azys Lla has made me think they might have been an Allagan creation, given that they are said to exist primarily in Eorzea and that was the seat of their empire. Does anyone have any ideas about this, or other stories that they think might be interesting to explore in rebuilding the world

As the link in the above post states, aetherytes are a very old technology that has changed hands and forms over the eons. The network you're talking about - the "Ancient" aetherytes - is from prior to the Sixth Astral Era. They were just here when people showed up, and might have been a factor in why they decided to stay and build civilizations around them. But we have no idea who made them. No one does. Sharlayan figured out how they were made and started to make their own, and also helped repair ours after the Calamity, but otherwise, they're a mystery.

Fun Fact: The beastmen set up shop around the "Ancient" aetherytes, as well... but theirs looked... ill. They were melted and covered in chains.

[FaerieAura]

Thank you both so much! I already have a Sharlayan character who I introduced to the campaign last week, so I'm thinking long-term he will probably play a role in restoring the aetherytes as well. As of right now, he is in Eorzea (and, in my world, working with a certain unscrupulous merchant from Revenant's Toll we all know and love) to try to uncover some of the mysteries of the Calamity, especially investigating some of the newly discovered Allagan creations that fell along with Dalamud. It might be an interesting twist to have Rowena be one of the wealthy financiers who backed the restoration of the aetheryte network... not only does she profit when we give her all of those tomestones we find all over the place, she fleeces us every time we teleport to GET to the places where they're located! Shrewd, Rowena. Shrewd.

[Anonymoose]

It might be an interesting twist to have Rowena be one of the wealthy financiers who backed the restoration of the aetheryte network

Luckily, that meshes into the story pretty easily (if it's not in fact canon) considering that Rowena was based in Ul'dah (who paid the majority of the restoration bills) during the Calamity. We actually met her there when she was just getting back on her feet, transitioning from being a weapons merchant to an antiquities dealer. That wealth and those connections allowed her to financially back the Adventurers' Guild's new outpost in Mor Dhona (though there may be more to her dealings with the guild than there appears to be...). So not only did Ul'dahn wealth back the restoration of the aetheryte network, but the Adventurers' Guild, who Rowena is confirmed to have financially backed, benefits enormously from the network being re-established. I think you'll be able to make it work just fine.

Kudos on a setting for the campaign, by the way. Version 1.0's world was pretty dull to objectively play in a lot of the time, but the pre-Calamity Sixth Astral Era is a very interesting time; that world-view trying to deal with the immediate aftermath has a lot of potential. I like to imagine the days of lower technology and less equipment variation and just more personal connection to the world-lore at large, even if I don't imagine spending a lot of game-time there, lol.

Feel free to come back if you have more questions. We like questions.