Another Book closes [SPOILER DISCUSSION]

[FJerome]

-IF- they put Teledji in the Palace, I will be more than happy to help take him down. However, if Haurchefant is put in there for ANY reason, I swear to God I will flip my shite and NEVER touch the Palace again, whether or not I need the weapons, or w/e else they plan to have in the higher floors.

I wouldn't expect to run across Haurchefant or Ysayle, they don't seem to fit in with the restless, confused souls of the Palace.

On the other hand I am fully prepared to break my heart over finding Wilred down there.

ETA: Noraxia would also make for a pretty good combo of a hell of a boss fight and "OH GOD I DIDN'T ASK FOR THESE FEELINGS".

[Balipu]

Well if the Palace of the Dead really has all sorts of dead people, the sky is the limit. I wonder if we may bump into Solus. Seems such a waste to have him never appear on screen with his pretty artwork and all.

[Nestama]

So long as they're lost souls, that is. I feel that if a character passes away with no regrets, or explodes into aether, their soul cannot be claimed by the Lich who would make them his mindless (until death) minions.

[MilesSaintboroguh]

So long as they're lost souls, that is. I feel that if a character passes away with no regrets, or explodes into aether, their soul cannot be claimed by the Lich who would make them his mindless (until death) minions.

Agreed, it seems only fitting to run into restless souls

[Zojha]

So long as they're lost souls, that is. I feel that if a character passes away with no regrets, or explodes into aether, their soul cannot be claimed by the Lich who would make them his mindless (until death) minions.

Well, what happens lorewise with souls upon death? And how does dying a peaceful death change the process from that of a less-than-peaceful death? Or regrets, for that matter?
That's rather essential in answering that question, unless the team intends to ignore its own lore in favor of the rule of cool.

Personally, I'm not well inclined to rule "anyone" out, except maybe Ascians - None of the people we meet in there were a Fomor, Revenant or even Wight first, nor was an item the persons soul was attuned to or held in required, so apparently, the "Lich" doesn't need the soul to linger in the physical realm (or, be restless as people commonly put it). More likely than not, he's just snatching them as they are trying to return to the lifestream - and that could be done with anyone whose soul has not been destroyed.

Lorebook insights on Ashkin, the lifestream and the like would naturally be rather helpful there.

[FJerome]

Lorebook insights on Ashkin, the lifestream and the like would naturally be rather helpful there.

Ashkin

Ashkin represent beings which, at one time, were full to bursting with vigor, but, for some reason (most commonly death), have that life energy drained of them leaving naught but a shell - a shell that is then reanimated by some outside means, denying the creature's thoroughgoing return, be it either physical or spiritual, to the Lifestream.

A couple of sample Ashkin entries, I don't want to type out the entire page so I just picked a couple of relevant-looking entries that also gave the general flavour of "Eorzean naturalists are largely just winging this classification";

Wraith

From afar, a wraith will appear no different from a humble man of clergy draped in his habit. Up close, however, one is quick to notice the lack of corporeal substance to the glowing entity that lurks within the vestments. Churches believe that wraiths represent a concentrated form of wrath resulting from unexacted revenge.

Slime

While much about these highly toxic amorphous beings remains veiled in mystery, naturalists have determined that slimes are most likely formed when humours, recently voided from a corpse, are left to fester on soil where they draw upon ambient earth aether. This gathered energy claims the congealing humours as a vessel, and accesses minute traces of aether left by the deceased to serve as a means of basic control over that vessel. This lack of inherent intelligence makes the ashkin exceedingly susceptible to control via arcane charming magicks.

(Yep! Prevailing scientific thought is that slimes are haunted poop. I'd have loved to been at the symposium where that theory was first presented.)

The Damned

These undead soldiers are created through dark rites of forbidden spellcraft. Though slow and shambling, zombies are relentless and terrifying foes who know neither pain nor fear. The incredible feats achieved by the Immortal Flames of old gave rise to the rumour that the Grand Company's ranks harbored the living dead - a claim which the Ul'dahn royal palace declared unworthy of comment.

The stuff on the Lifestream is scattered all over the place and nothing we haven't already seen in the game, that the dead are meant to return there after death, so I don't think it's worth reproducing here.

The page on the Heavens and Hells is almost certainly useless; it's taken entirely from the beliefs of the worship of The Twelve and I think we're reaching the point it's safe to say that they're about at the level of divinity as, oh, just picking a Primal completely at random here honest, Ramuh or Sophia.

[Dualblade]

Haurchefant and Ysayle won't be showing up, it wouldn't really make much sense given they are able to help us (via Hydaelyn) in 3.3. Just about everyone else is free game though.

[MilesSaintboroguh]

They finally fixed him!? I kept looking for it in the patch notes but never saw.

Indeed, it looks like we were right all along: Jakys Ryder.

It's not a perfect recreation, but it looks like they tried to get as close as they could. And it's certainly much closer than it was before. The big clue is the two names he says when he dies. Flame Commander Ryder was present for the assault on Castrum Novum in 1.0 (along with Clovissoix and Dhavha), and died in the Calamity. His code name, Mad Snake, can be heard shouted by Raubahn in an Echo at the beginning (LV15) of A Realm Reborn.

I'm more surprised you forgot about this considering how you wanted to find out about this guy real badly!

[Balipu]

Lorebook insights on Ashkin, the lifestream and the like would naturally be rather helpful there.

Wanna know something funny? Up to this point I always called undead in XIV gravekin. I can't remember where I got the idea, but it made sense somehow. But now I can't find any source of the term beside my own forum posts.