Boulders Down

[LuckyFish]

This got me thinking about all the areas that look like they should be a dungeon entrance but (at least as far as I know) aren't. Some of them might be used in solo content I haven't gotten to yet, but the one that springs to mind immediately is the tomb just outside Ul'dah with all the Spriggans. What is that place?

[Enkidoh]

This got me thinking about all the areas that look like they should be a dungeon entrance but (at least as far as I know) aren't. Some of them might be used in solo content I haven't gotten to yet, but the one that springs to mind immediately is the tomb just outside Ul'dah with all the Spriggans. What is that place?

That's the Sil'dih Excavation Site - the ruins of Ul'dah's former twin city which was destroyed in a war years before. The exact details of what actually happened are murky at best, Ul'dahn history (which, as Ferne himself stated, is usually "written by the winners" and so might not be necessarily true from a certain point of view) states that the war was because of dwindling water supplies and which Sil'dih was losing horribly, which caused them to resort to no less than necromancy to revive their fallen soldiers as a zombie horde simply in an effort to recoup their mounting losses against Ul'dah's forces.

This apparently backfired on Sil'dih horribly though, in that the zombie plague used to revive their dead soldiers now spread from the military to the city itself and pretty soon the entire nation was wiped out both by the zombies and an empowered Ul'dah who now turned the war into a public relations stunt to "send these zombies straight back to Thal!" Prior to the Calamity, Sil'dih was entirely buried under the sand, occasionally being seen off on the horizon as a shimmering mirage, but the geographic upheavals to the land Dalamud's fall wrought revealed the ruins.

Of course, as noted the truth is far more murkier than that -

the Hildibrand quest line suggested that it was in fact Ul'dah which really unleashed the zombie apocalypse on Sil'dih - which drove that quest line's antagonist to get revenge on Ul'dah for the city's destruction. However, given the Hildibrand storyline exists in a kind of parodic 'bubble' that is not necessarily canon to the main scenario, it's unclear exactly if even that is truly what happened (I lack the lore book so I am unsure exactly if anything more or less than this is listed there on the subject). Either way, those ruins are of the former city of Sil'dih which was destroyed in a zombie apocalypse.

Incidentally, you actually travel through there during the ending cutscenes to the 2.55 storyline - the Sil'dih Aqueducts connected Ul'dah to it and the player's character exited the Aqueducts through there when fleeing from the Crystal Braves and the Brass Blades (an early Ul'dah main scenario quest instanced battle also takes place outside there too).

So the ruins of Sil'dih definitely appear in the game and are important to the game's storyline.

[Sounsyy]

Hildibrand quest line suggested that it was in fact Ul'dah which really unleashed the zombie apocalypse on Sil'dih - which drove that quest line's antagonist to get revenge on Ul'dah for the city's destruction. However, given the Hildibrand storyline exists in a kind of parodic 'bubble' that is not necessarily canon to the main scenario, it's unclear exactly if even that is truly what happened (I lack the lore book so I am unsure exactly if anything more or less than this is listed there on the subject).

The lore book corroborates the Hildibrand version of events. And while the Hildibrand story might by whacky and comical, most characters in the story react to the setting in a very natural way- mainly being aghast and dumbfounded by Hildibrand's eccentricities. So it's hard for me to imagine that the setting in which the Hildibrand questline finds itself in is itself outside of canon. There likely was an Ala Mhigan gladiator cheating her matches with help from a... whatever typhon is. And according to the lore book, the fate of Sil'dih was really decided by Ul'dah.

Timeline
1159 - Lalawefu Sil Tatawefu ascends the throne in Sil'dih and increases taxes to spur economic reform.
1162 - Lalawefu takes measures to secure a stable water source, and is hailed by his people as the "King of Springs." The act deals a serious blow to Ul'dah, as Sil'dih's water supply is diverted from upstream of their sister sultanate's own reservoir.
1177 - Lalawefu Sil Tatawefu succumbs to illness. A withering drought overtakes Thanalan. Sil'dih falls into economic decline, and its people voice public discontent with the sultanate's excessive taxation.
1178 - Ul'dah invades Sil'dih to reclaim their water supply. Sil'dih takes advantage of the crisis to unify its people under a common cause, and wages a war of resistance against its sister state.
1179 - Ul'dah enlists the services of Ala Mhigan mercenaries, and the soldiers of fortune swell their ranks as the kingdom besieges Sil'dih.
1181 - Ul'dahn thaumaturges develop the Traders' Spurn, an alchemical concoction with the power to reanimate the dead. With this devastating weapon, they lay waste to Sil'dih.

[Anonymoose]

So it's hard for me to imagine that the setting in which the Hildibrand questline finds itself in is itself outside of canon

In my headcanon, Hildibrand has his own bubble, like holiday NPCs (e.g. the Heavensturn NPCs from the Far East remember being here several times even though it was 5 years since the Calamity then and is 5 years since the Calamity now). Everything that's true in Eorzea is true in the Manderville Bubble, just not the other way around. Sil'dih happened, but you can't survive an explosive point blank to the face following a fifty story faceplant into the dirt. So far it's worked out pretty okay, the bubble's edges are just kinda murky around the Gold Saucer.

But to quote Oda-san's encouragement: Hildibrand's canonocity is ... whatever you want it to be! It works on the same principle as the "present" timeline and roleplay standards, lol.

[BlakeWolfe]

The ruins of Ul'dah's twin city state Sil'dih. Decimated by the Trader's Spurn which enacted a zombie plague on the city, and Ul'dah proceeded to bury the city to get rid of the zombies they made. Currently only used as the site of the level 10 Golem battle if you start in Ul'dah, and where we pop out from to get on the carriage to head to Camp Dragonhead after things hit the fan in 2.55.