Lore - Mor Dhona and the 2.0 Cataclysm

[Akoree]

Hi everyone,

Ever since release I've found Mor Dhona to be one of the most interesting zones in the game as it one of the few areas with a very fantasy-ish scenery, thanks to the wyrm from the intro and the crystal formations all over the zone.

I've taken a look at the documents for 2.0 where they speak of the many changes done to some zones after the planned "cataclysm". I came back to the game after 1.19a to see how the game had changed and took the time to join a company and get myself a chocobo and read pretty much all of the text related to that company.

*Minor Company Spoiler Alert*

In one of those quests Cid says that the flow of aether has been modified and that it would normally flow through (if I remember correctly) Silvertear Lake. This is linked to the shards with no aspects we've been finding in the game and most likely to what Cid refers to as "Meteor" which would be one of the moons currently above us in the game.


Silvertear lake just happens to be at the center of Mor Dhona , for which I could find little to no lore outside the game (quite sad honestly, being one of my favorite zones). If all of Eorzea's aether flow through there we can presume its a very important place for the planet's survival. If "Meteor" feeds on aether and is draining the planet at this moment, could it fall straight on the lake? Could the wyrm "wake up" and save the Eorzea inhabitants from complete destruction like it seemed to have nuked the Garlean ship? (When I mean save I do not mean that it is on our side but that it would save most of the world to save itself and its kind if it has any).

Note: I may be completely off on this, I've been away for a few months and maybe something else is going on in the zone which I haven't read in the patch notes or seen in-game.

*Minor Company Spoiler End*

It seems obvious that Square had big things planned for this zone from the start, but will this content end up being part of the redesign? Whatever it was, is or will be, this is content I can't wait to hear more about SE's plan for the zone for 2.0 and beyond.

These were just my thoughts on the matter, sorry its not as controversial or interesting as the billing plans or the job but I haven't seen many threads speaking about this.

Thoughts, theories or suggestions on the changes that could be brought to the zone and its link with the 2.0 cataclysm?

[Anonymoose]

The original storyline of the game was heavily dependent on a two-fold war; the beast tribes and their primals and the invading forces of the Empire. Which to trust, and who was lying about the other, was supposed to be one of the biggest conflicts/mysteries.

However, since the teamshift last December, they've been gently working the story toward the Grand Company reformation, Archon reappearance, and impending doom of the Seventh Umbral Era via a means OTHER THAN the aforementioned war.

This cataclysm is most likely related to the fall of the moon Dalamud, which you can see glowing red over the world right now.

In the beginning, it seemed to me that the dragon was Wyrmking Bahamut, finally slain by the empire, and his death released the other primals from his control (notice how you see Titan and Ifrit specifically in the intro video.) My theory at the time was that the power of the primals together could re-awaken Bahamut.

This could still be true, as the company lore itself mentions things going totally wonky with the aether and how the "rebirth of primals" may be possible due to it. I'd say your theory holds merit, for the moment being. In fact, it links back to the origin story: Who do we trust to help us out of this disaster? Do you allow the empire to invade and go about their business, or do we put our fate in the hands of the primals? Perhaps to awaken Bahamut and shatter Dalamud? Who knows!

At this point, I trust that the Empire believes it's doing us a solid, but I doubt that it is, in reality. Their disregard for us is too great for them to actually respect us long-term.

If I had to guess, the primals and beast tribes will become the antagonistic force, causing the empire to push further and further into Eorzea "for our salvation;" they'll establish bases on our content, install Legatus rulers in our cities, and press harder and harder until we not only have to earn their respect by taking down the primals, but force them out of our land entirely.

How the archons and companies will fit into this? Anybody's guess.

[Rau]

Bahamut fight. Nuff said.

[Seirra_Lanzce]

why no use [ spoiler ] tag [ /spoiler ] lol xD

[Akoree]

why no use [ spoiler ] tag [ /spoiler ] lol xD

The spoiler tags wouldn't work in the preview window I had so I chose to simply change the color.

The original storyline of the game was heavily dependent on a two-fold war; the beast tribes and their primals and the invading forces of the Empire. Which to trust, and who was lying about the other, was supposed to be one of the biggest conflicts/mysteries.

Thanks for your input Anonymoose, I like how you seem to be quite into the lore and what's happening in the story. I feel this trait is far to uncommon in the players I come across in-game.

If there was to be mystery about which, Beastmen or Empire, was truly the "villain" I think SE chose to scrap it at this point. Seeing how we're increasingly dealing with both threats (they have many strongholds and dungeons in the 2.0 docs) I believe that we'll end up fighting both at the same time. Most of the Beast tribes seem to wish to follow the Archons and gain territory while the empire seems to want to stick to the stapple of what makes a Fantasy Empire... world domination. I'm curious to know the links they each have with meteor though.

mor dhana is just exciting because you haven't spent 100 hours running around it already, and it's night time all the time. The monsters are much higher level so youc an't really "do" much there other than try not to die, and chances are, you will fail at that task. in cb1 and 2 all we had was limsa. grid and uldah areas were "amazing" because we hadn't been there and didn't spend much time there. Case in point: ifrits cauldron. at first it's totally awesome, then it's a pita and you don't bother spending much time there unless you're going for ifrit prime battle or to farm.

1: There was daytime back when I explored the zone.

2: Its still exciting after spending a lot of time in it. The scenery in the zone is unique in the game and it seems central to the story of the game.

3: I really don't understand the point of your post and how it links to the lore topic but I'm sorry for you that every zone in the game has become boring for you. I hope the redesign will change that

[Anonymoose]

I'm curious to know the links they each have with meteor though.

Van Darnus and Cid give away a lot of the Empire's mind on the matter - they've known about it for a long time and know more than we could dream of as pertains to whatever's coming. The Empire sees it as perfectly justified to invade and take care of business in their own manner - conducting secret operations even if it means taking our land by force to do it. Cid defected from the empire with the intention of bringing this knowledge to us, and I'm sure our company leaders will be sharing more info with us in the near future.

Van Darnus is a bit more cryptic - he seems to appreciate that Eorzea, though primitive and inferior compared to the empire he serves, has true heroes and strength not to be trifled with, at least one-on-one. I don't think he's entirely out to get us (The Black Wolf and his arm-cannon not so much, considering he just flat-out head-impaled the Ala Mhigan and opened fire on the mysterious travelers that arrived at the same time we did (Y'shtola, Thancred, ... Grid Taru Guy).)

The thing is, we haven't been told ANYTHING about what the Beast Tribes think of this whole meteor, impending doom, aetheric clusterf**k thing... We might assume that they don't know - I assume, however, that they're to blame. There's a reason all those deaspected crystals started showing up en mass right before Dalamud went red and all this sh!t got started.

[Akoree]

The thing is, we haven't been told ANYTHING about what the Beast Tribes think of this whole meteor, impending doom, aetheric clusterf**k thing... We might assume that they don't know - I assume, however, that they're to blame. There's a reason all those deaspected crystals started showing up en mass right before Dalamud went red and all this sh!t got started.

Well, given Ifrit and the other Primals are described as aether-devouring entities (Read that somewhere but can't find a direct quote, thanks empty wikis) we can presume they've got their hand in the aether-devouring moon which is about to land on our pretty heads.

That being said, I don't know what the Beastmen tribes or even the primals could gain from the destruction of nearly every living thing in Eorzea.

Unless...

Let's say that the moon actually falls on Sivlertear lake, where all the aether is meant to gather and that the Primals can easily evade the destruction which would result. Could it provide them with a direct route to the Aether ressources of the planet? Or maybe even feed from the Aether which could be produced by the death of all the nearby creatures.

This is only based on a quote I cannot find however, maybe they don't even feed on aether.

[Anonymoose]

This is only based on a quote I cannot find however, maybe they don't even feed on aether.

If I remember correctly (no promises; I can check for you in my lore records later on tonight if so requested), but in the main storyline I believe it was that summoning them is what required aether, and thus the beast tribes hoarded and tried to directly control the supply of all the crystals they could manage to. This is what threw up red flags to me when the deaspected crystals started popping up.

In the main storyline, we went out to Mor Dhona to purposefully drain crystals of their aspect (whether Deaspected Crystals and Unaspected Crystals are the same remains to be officially stated, but they are DEFINED by the same exact definition) in order to trick the Ixal into re-opening their crystal trade, we got a pretty good look at what the claims were on each side.

The beast tribes claimed that they were taught to summon the primals from the void by a group called the "Paragons" who arrive in times of darkness to lead those in need to the light of the primals. That sounds awful familiar doesn't it? A bastardized version of the followers of the teachings of Nald and their Archons, perhaps? OR, are those like Urianger playing both sides?

When the empire caught wind of the unaspected crystals and summoning of the primals, they took action on Eorzea QUICKLY, immediately dropping linkpearls on our cities that broadcast the message that the beast tribes would summon the primals and lay waste to the world of the Woken (us). Garlemald offered us the full protection of their empire if we would accept their rule.

Yet again, we must ask - WHO DO WE TRUST? Urianger - who may be playing both sides? The empire, who clearly has no regard for our wellbeing even if they DO want to protect the land? Or the beast tribes and their primals - who... well, by this point are probably not going to be our allies anytime soon.

It may not be that the primals want to destroy EVERYTHING in Eorzea, but just lay waste to those who don't share in their beliefs; not just the Woken, but also eachother (Remember the amal'jaa and ixal threatening eachother with the full force of their God) -- never underestimate what some will do for religion - ESPECIALLY if Urianger is playing the field.

We've been warned about the Archon Urianger from day one: The primals have these mysterious paragons, the grand companies demanded him hunted down, when he FIRST APPEARED as a GM, he came with a herald who shouted to ignore the words of the false prophet. So, does he really want to fight the seventh umbral era, or did he bring it with him when he came?

These are the questions we've gotta be figuring out.

[nasomi]

mor dhana is just exciting because you haven't spent 100 hours running around it already, and it's night time all the time. The monsters are much higher level so youc an't really "do" much there other than try not to die, and chances are, you will fail at that task. in cb1 and 2 all we had was limsa. grid and uldah areas were "amazing" because we hadn't been there and didn't spend much time there. Case in point: ifrits cauldron. at first it's totally awesome, then it's a pita and you don't bother spending much time there unless you're going for ifrit prime battle or to farm.

[Coombah]

Very interesting read..I can't wait to see more of the story