Twelveswood

**Namill** · 06-30-2016 02:47 AM

All of Gridania lies in the Twelveswood, right? According to a certain NPC : "All outsiders who wish to dwell in the Twelveswood must present themselves in Quarrymill to have their worthiness weighted by the elementals ". But I didn't have to go trough this. How does this rule exackly work? Who does it apply to?

**MPNZ** · 06-30-2016 04:58 AM

Basically, all adventures are given special permittance to enter the Twelveswood. Praise be to the Elder Seedseer.

**FJerome** · 06-30-2016 05:35 AM

The Elementals aren't actually as clearly understandable or consistent as the Gridanians wish they were, plus they lost a lot of power during the Clamity, otherwise you wouldn't be seeing those Duskwright and Miqo'te bandits running about the way they are, not even mentioning the Garleans.

**Mimilu** · 06-30-2016 05:40 AM

It's pretty much just Gameplay and Story Segregation :B

**Enkidoh** · 06-30-2016 12:18 PM

It's a little bit more than that though. As adventurers we're given certain freedoms not enjoyed by 'regular' people - permission to travel freely across national borders is one. Also a big distinction needs to be made between us and the refugees.

As adventurers we're not actually 'setting up shop and staying there', we're pledging allegiance to that city (in this case, Gridania) and doing work for them, but apart from staying in the Inn Room we're pretty much transient and are not actually settling in the forest - wherever we stay we're already using pre-made facilities (even private player housing is mentioned by npcs as being already "granted permission" by the elementals). The refugees on the other hand, want to settle in the forest, they want to make homes for themselves, to set up farms and industries, and most of all, make use of the forest's stretched resources without regard for the deeper implications.

As fair and understandable as that is, the forest is still recovering from the Calamity and is already stressed as it is, people from other lands usually do not share the Gridanians' pro-environmental stance, regarding it as just one more annoying layer of red-tape they have to negotiate and instead having a certain consumerist "we see we take" attitude, something the elementals frown upon and are very much trying to prevent.

So yeah, basically as adventurers it's sort of handwaved that "we are already cleared with the elementals to come and go in the forest as we're helping Gridania and by extension the elementals" as why we can enter the Black Shroud while refugees can't. It does seem cold and cruel, but then, that is nature for you.

**Vexander** · 07-01-2016 07:31 AM

The Elementals are a pretty fickle bunch, but they've created a fairly good system for controlling people.

They whacked the planet when Black Magic and White Magic drained the lands of Aether. They finally allow people to live in the Twelveswood again, but with conditions. They established a privileged caste (Padjal) and give them unique and great power (White Magic, one of the things they flooded the world in the first place for). The Conjurers are then granted power from the elements in return for further service, creating a borderline religious institution, and making the rare few Hearers about as important in Gridania as Inquisitors are in Ishgard. From there a strict, unyielding national propaganda is created and enforced to foster mistrust of the outside world, cutting the Gridanians off from viewpoints the elementals don't like, further controlling the population.

At the end of the day the Elements had created their own little meat army of puppets who'd throw themselves on swords if the Elementals told them to do so through a hearer or a padjal. Lo and behold, the Calamity wrecks the Twelveswood and the elements are weakened, and now they reply on their army of meat puppets. When that proves to be not enough, adventurers are given the Okay, mostly because they don't stay in one place too long, and so won't overtly affect the generations of social and psychological conditioning.

Honestly, the elements are like cultists. It's a bit disturbing when you think about it.

**Morningstar1337** · 07-01-2016 11:07 AM

Originally Posted by Vexander

Honestly, the elements are like cultists. It's a bit disturbing when you think about it.

INB4 its revealed that the Elementals are Primals/Ascians

**Vexander** · 07-01-2016 11:17 AM

Originally Posted by Morningstar1337

INB4 its revealed that the Elementals are Primals/Ascians

I'm not sure it goes that far, but if you look into the psychology and science that comes with brainwashing and cultists conditioning their members and the likes, Gridania just reeks of it, with the Elements in control.

**Morningstar1337** · 07-01-2016 11:25 AM

Originally Posted by Vexander

I'm not sure it goes that far, but if you look into the psychology and science that comes with brainwashing and cultists conditioning their members and the likes, Gridania just reeks of it, with the Elements in control.

It makes it a little bit funny that another cult also appeared in the Shroud multiple times

**Enkidoh** · 07-01-2016 11:26 AM

Don't be so quick to judge it as "oh it's an evil cult brainwashing everyone!" though - yes some of it is exaggerated a bit, but the fact remains that the elementals are real, the forest is theirs, and Gridania's harsh, xenophobic policies are the price they pay for being allowed to settle in the forest (remember, the elementals actually drove the Ixal out because they angered them). Those which transgress on the elementals will not only risk their own lives, but the lives of everyone in Gridania.

It should also be noted that the elementals don't just exist in the Black Shroud either, they exist everywhere in Hydaelyn, in every rock, stream, hill and the air you breath. They are just more potent and powerful in the Black Shroud than anywhere else though for some reason. The main problem is the elementals are not mortal beings, they are beings of pure aether, who have a will beyond mortal comprehension. Mortal ideas and concepts such as good and evil are not applicable to them, and likewise the thoughts and will of the elementals can come across to mortals as downright alien at times. It's an uneasy balance that the people of Gridania struggle to maintain, made worse by the destruction wrought by the Calamity.

Thread: Twelveswood

Thread Tools

Search Thread

Display

Twelveswood