Recreating the Aetheryte Network - Post-Calamity

[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.