A (Highly Theoretical) Look at the Cycle of the Eras

[Ametrine]

Snip of immense knowledge.

Thank you Ramen for clearing that up and Moose for posting the information!

[myahele]

Yeah, that's what I am thinking. If the Gerun Chronicles are to be believed it was only after Hydaelyn split from Zodiark, banished him to the moon and fragmented the world into 14 pieces did she create man which would coincide with mankind's appearance in the 1st Umbral era.

If this were true, Hydaelyn split from Zodiark could very well have killed or driven away the "gods" that existed during that time

[Ametrine]

I thought it was confirmed that the first Calamity was the break between Hydaelyn and Zodiark.

But thinking about it again, each calamity was a moment of "rejoining," to use the term of the Word of the Mother and Asciens.

Why would the moment of them breaking up also be a moment of rejoining?

[Anonymoose]

Why would the moment of them breaking up also be a moment of rejoining?

You've just touched on a big part my aimless ramble in an earlier post. The [First Umbral = Destruction of the Source] assumption is clearly Occam's favored, but a few things are kind of hinky if you commit to it. First, the moogles appear to be mortals, and they believe that they lived with the gods prior to the first calamity despite the Gerun Oracles implying that Hydaelyn created Life after the division (not a problem if Nalien is right about the moogles). Second, the Encyclopaedia Eorzea is (probably willfully) vague about what "prehistory" is supposed to mean.

There are more than a few things that suddenly line up better if you assume the existence of a "forgotten" era between the destruction of the Source and the beginning of modern history with the First Umbral Era; that Prehistory was a first attempt at Life - a post-Source world with gods overseeing the new Creation - and that it all went to hells in the first Calamity. But without more information, Occam is still giving it the side-eye.

It's a chin-scratcher.

[Balipu]

The lorebook can't come out soon enough. Hopefully it will include a timeline that includes this missing era. Although since 3.4 will likely include some talks between the WoL, the Leveilleur twins and Urianger, we might learn more about what Elidibus told him. It definitely involves the split from Hydaelin and the 14 fragments (whatever they might be), and how these rejoining shenanigans work.