Weather, Geography, and the Calamity

[Sounsyy]

What about Limsa Lominsa's water, though? The only reference to it I can recall is that FATE in Lower La Noscea in the pond next to the Moraby Drydocks, saying that fresh water is hard to come by on Vylbrand.

Limsa's water fresh water supply seems to come mainly from the runoff of Mount O'Ghomoro into the Nym and Agelyss Rivers, as well as the various fresh water springs that crop up around La Noscea.

Despite being surrounded on all sides by the sea, fresh water remains difficult to come by on Vylbrand, which is why the few springs that do exist must be protected at all costs from blighted dodos and jackals who come to the water to drink...and defecate.

A massive tangle of vivified briar and vines known by the locals as Toxic Tamlyn has taken root in Fool Falls and is poisoning the water which flows into the Nym River, and eventually down to the Rhotano Sea and Limsa Lominsa. The morbol must be slain before the city-state’s entire freshwater supply is contaminated, but to do so will require entering an area churning with deadly bubbles that release noisome fumes and bloodthirsty denizens of the deep.

When the Calamity carved rifts in the land’s surface, water rushed up to fill them from a subterranean vein flowing forth from the mountains of O’Ghomoro. Two new rivers now run through middle La Noscea, and have turned the area betwixt them into a fertile farmland where produce always grows in the abundance of summer. Summerford is also known as the former home of Camp Bearded Rock, a Yellowjacket outpost that was purged from La Noscea, rock and all, when Bahamut unleashed his flames upon the area.

I've got a bit more lore on Eorzea's rivers here.

Also, unrelated to the above, where exactly is the Goblet located? I know Mist is just on the other side of some cliffs from Lower La Noscea, and I assume the Lavender Beds are on an island in the middle of the Jadeite Flood?

The Goblet is located roughly south-southwest of Ul'dah. There's a spot just south of the Golden Bazaar in E. Thanalan where you can get up on a ledge and see a good view of how Ul'dah is sort of nestled in this almost basin-like mountainside and behind that is the ravine that the Goblet sits in. I did a hella bad paint drawing to help clarify. The gold star is the ledge I'm talking about, the gold lines indicate a very very rough path of that ravine as it twists through the Thanalan region. Ul'dah is red and the Goblet is green.

[Zohar_Lahar]

I take it the Jadeite Flood is where Gridania gets its water?

[Enkidoh]

Partially, yes. Jadeite Flood is the large lake that the Carline Canopy and the CRP's Guild looks out onto (and drains into the Central Shroud), but it's only one of many large watercourses in Gridania. Gridania in fact is almost completely surrounded by water, although this was more apparent during version 1.0 (pre Calamity in other words), where the actual zone entrances into and out of the city was made by travelling across long wooden bridges that ran right across the lake - these were destroyed in the Calamity and in fact, in ARR you can still see where one of them ran (a support tower for it can be seen in Jadeite Flood across from the Blue Badger Gate in New Gridania, it's that stone tower with a cut out section near the top and a small lamp inside, the former bridge ran through this tower and across to the Blue Badger Gate.). Due to the Calamity parts of the lake were filled in by rubble and debris, meaning a direct ground level path from and to Gridania was now possible, which is the current way of accessing the city (and essentially cutting the lake in two).

Accordingly, the other lake is to the east which is how the East Shroud is accessed (by ferry from a dock near the LNC Guild), and the same lake can also be seen from the ARC's Guild as well). Presumably this lake is also where the Lavender Beds is located (fittingly on an island) - the Mirror Planks being at it's south-western most point apparently.

The Black Shroud is a very wet environment with bountiful precipitation so water supply doesn't seem to be a particular problem affecting Gridania - the city is somewhat of a foodbasket for the other city states after all with merchants from other cities buying up the forest's bounty, and a reliable, constant water source is a part of that.