Stormblood Job Questline Lore?

[Addicted]

Black Mage starts with Shatotto managing to "revive" herself by imbuing Lalai with her memories. She does so because she foresaw that the comet she once sent off course would return 2000 years from then and, if not stopped again, would destroy the world. You then learn that the core of every golem is a shard of this comet that fell unto Eorzea when Shatotto first blasted it. The golems are the ones calling out to the comet, making it change its course to hit Eorzea. To speed up the process they start cannibalizing each other to create a super golem to act as a beacon. You kill this golem and the comet very narrowly avoids impact. The world is saved though everyone shows regret no one will ever know what happened and black magic will continue to be seen as a force for only evil. Shatotto, having accomplished what her memory was meant to do, fades away, entrusting the future of black magic to you.

[SaitoHikari]

So I finished the Bard story. It is surprisingly rich in lore, and is actually really good overall.

Jehantel informs you that Sanson and Guydelot have succeeded in establishing their Bard unit, though there aren't any other Bards in it yet. Sanson asks you to assist in the unit's first outing even though you're more of a honorary member/friend of the group rather than an official member, and you head off together to receive your first orders from Commander Vorsaile. As it turns out, the Twin Adders got an anonymous letter about a tome that contains a damning secret about the Autumn War, and they want your unit to quietly investigate. Sanson wonders if the Twin Adders will try to suppress the unit's findings if it turns out the tome has information that casts Gridania in an unfavorable light, but the group is assured that they'll be properly recognized and compensated for their efforts.

You set out to meet the letter's sender, a man named Nourval who doesn't actually have the tome, but knows that it is somewhere in Gyr Abania. You journey to Castrum Oriens (where you actually spend the entirety of the Bard questline until the very end, any Bards that would have grinded to 70 during Raubhan EX wouldn't have been locked out of their quests at all) to start gathering intelligence on the journal. However, Guydelot quickly senses something amiss with Nourval, and essentially uses his drunkard bard persona to great effect as to not tip him off. Alliance patrols have been getting ambushed by masked bandits, to the point where Alliance members begin to suspect that there is a spy in the Castrum, and the two unit leaders note that the ambushes began upon the group's arrival. So they start watching Nourval more closely, until they make it seem as if they've become distracted by other duties. As suspected, Nourval takes this chance to leave, and the group follows him from a distance.

Nourval finds the tome with his 'masked bandit' friends, and reveals his intention to return to Gridania and spread word of what is written within - word of a crime committed during the Autumn War, the truth within likely to rekindle hatred for the Ala Mhigans, and undermine the Alliance's liberation efforts. Your group confronts him, and you defeat his group and retrieve the journal. The journal reveals what happened to Vainchelon, a Gridanian general in the Autumn War thought to have fallen in a great battle against the Ala Mhigans. The journal reveals that in reality, Vainchelon was invited to peace talks with the Ala Mhigan general, which turned out to be a trap. Vainchelon was poisoned and most of his group was slaughtered, save for his son, Gylbarde - the original owner of the journal. And Nourval is a descendant of the family line, who desires revenge against the Ala Mhigans by bringing the truth to light.

Sanson agonizes over what to do with the journal. He had his orders to bring the journal to the Adder's Nest as soon as it was found, but he knows the Adders will most likely just bury the truth. The group also doesn't believe Nourval to be beyond reproach, and decide the best course of action is to simply hold onto the journal until the contents within can actually be verified as the truth. They also figure there has to be some reason why Gylbarde never made this public knowledge. In the meantime, Sanson receives another letter from Nourval, inviting the player character alone to a meeting south of the Castrum, and the group decides to oblige since if it's a trap, it's not a very good one considering you're the strongest of the group. Surprise, it IS a trap, but not in the way the group was thinking - Nourval sought to get you out of the way, because the real target was Sanson, who received his own meeting request a short while afterwards and was then captured. Guydelot however still has the journal, and a ransom is demanded - Sanson's life for the journal. You and Guydelot retreat back to the Adder's Nest in Gridania to inform the Company of what has happened.

The Twin Adders insist that Guydelot hand over the journal, but he counters by saying that Sanson is his superior, and it wasn't his wish to hand it over to the Adders just yet. Later, a Serpent commander then informs you and Guydelot that the Adders have received news that Nourval's group has appeared in the South Shroud, and that Serpent command has decided all negotiations are off the table and Nourval is to be detained or killed on sight. Guydelot protests, knowing such an action condemns Sanson to death, and killing a descendant of Vainchelon on top of that is 'bullshite'. You protest as well, and as it turns out, the commander agrees - for the issue was never even brought up to the Elder Seedseer in the first place, for lower command never thought the matter to be serious enough to warrant her involvement. For that reason, the commander decides that a joint group consisting of himself, the leaders of the Archer's Guild and the Lancer's Guild (because Sanson is still a lancer at the end of the day), Jehantel, Guydelot, and yourself will set out to confront Nourval before the rest of command acts.

You and Guydelot set out first, and find Nourval and his associates holding Sanson hostage near the entrance to the Second Coil in the South Shroud. Guydelot tries to convince Nourval to stand down, but he doesn't have any of it and attacks. You and Guydelot handily defeat him, and he attempts to flee, only to be blocked off by the rest of the group just arriving. Jehantel asks Nourval to think about why Gylbarde never revealed exactly what happened afterwards, and that's because Vainchelon had a vision of peace. The truth, had it been revealed during the Autumn War, would have surely whipped the Gridanians of the time into a frenzy. It wouldn't have been enough to merely defend the Black Shroud from the Ala Mhigans, the people would have demanded blood, perhaps marching all the way into Gyr Abania. Such a thing would result in massive casualties for both sides, and would have run counter to Vainchelon's dying wishes. Nourval protests, saying that all his family desired for the past few decades was vengeance, but Jehantel disagrees. He KNOWS of Vainchelon and Gylbarde's wish, for he trained with Gylbarde long ago.

This convinces Nourval to relent, and Sanson alongside the rest of the group assures him that he won't let Serpent command bury the truth - that someday, the truth will come to light, in a future where it can be used to foster a greater understanding of peace rather than fueling more death and vengeance. Back at the Adder's Nest, the Serpent commander present lets Sanson know that in order for his intentions to be realized, he'll have to rise up in the ranks of Serpent command. The commander himself shares the same sentiments about the journal, and swears to support him and Guydelot. The questline ends with you meeting Jehantel back at his camp in the South Shroud, reminiscing about old days and the wish for peace through song.

[gumas]

Drg is pretty much "how to befriend your dragon" or if you are into anime "my little dragon cant be this helpful"

Compare to other class quest, DRG is pretty straightforward, you met an old friend, old friend ask you to help a dragon, you and dragon search around for clue and went places, you and dragon found it and after a little fight here and there, all is done.

Thats pretty much the gits of it, if anything "wow" moment is that you at the end of the quest met with your good old friend from HW story to fight together once more.

[SaitoHikari]

Starting to do WHM now, got mine to 65. Has some neat lore implications so far.

Sylphie ends up befriending a girl that turns out to be a Padjal. Her mother took her and fled from Gridania when she was born, since she couldn't bear the thought of the Conjurer's guild taking her away (and that Gridanian law encouraged such a thing). Problem is, she never ends up being trained to control her powers as a result, so every time she experiences an outburst of emotion, aether starved voidsent show up to attack her. To make matters worse, her mother has come down with a heart condition and may not be long for the world.

For now, Sylphie decides she's going to train Gatty in the art of conjury so that the voidsent won't be able to sense her any longer and that she'll be able to take care of her mother better, and swears to keep her existence a secret from the Conjurer's Guild.

[Dualgunner]

RDM's story does a good job setting up a lot of elements and having them all be relevant. Adventure with RDM senpai for a bit, fight a cult, trace that cult to an ancient voidsent related to the abuse of Red Magic...

It was charming and fun. I wish they focused more on the balanced history of the red mages that survived the Flood than "Yeah mhachi and going too far into black magic is KIIIIIND of super dangerous." I'll gladly go rewatch the cutscenes any time.

[gumas]

AST story is pretty much opening path for geomancer class if it indeed become the next new class in the future

[Jandor]

Paladin: Overall, it was pretty lame.

Yeah, that sounds about right.

[Quor]

Warrior starts off with a great quest name: Curious Gorge meets his match.

The long and the short of it is; Curious Gorge, you and Broken Mountain have a friendly match at the Wolves Den. Curious Gorge meets cute Xaela girl. Cute Xaela girl (and her team) lose to you, Gorge and Mountain. Cute Xaela girl loses control of her inner beast and launches Gorge and her teammates into the stratosphere (very comical, with little hearts around Gorge's face as he is in awe of her form). You subdue cute Xaela girl (named Dorgono) and she comes under your tutelage. Cue aggressive sexual tension for a few quests. Dorgono eventually manages to master her inner beast (what her people on the Steppe refer to as "Karash") and returns home to her people. Meanwhile, Gorge has lost his inner beast due to his unrequited love for Dorgono, and he follows her to the Steppe. Gorge futzes around helping out the locals for a bit before coming to terms with his feelings for Dorgono, and, with your help, the three of you manage to turn back the bad Xaela tribe members that fell to Karash and were wreaking havoc, sullying the name of Dorgono's tribe and endangering the lives of the innocent. Oh, and you do this with the power of love. We're talking a super attack where Gorge sends hearts to power it up after shouting his love for Dorgono across the whole Steppe.

Then Gorge loses control of his inner beast following the battle, only for Dorgono to shout her love back at him and snap him out of it. Having lost control of his beast, Gorge decides that he is not yet worthy of Dorgono and will train harder so he will not lose control again, then goes back to his waterfall in Costa del Sol to train while Dorgono says she will wait for him.

They somehow manage to take the berserker class story and turn it into something both funny and lovey-dovey all at once. Like, some of the stuff was Hildibrand-level humor.

[SaitoHikari]

Working on Alchemist at the moment.

Going to say, the Alchemist quests have a ton of lore on Erralig's Burial Chamber and later F'lhaminn's family. You're tasked with finding out why there are some bodies within the burial chamber that don't age or decompose at all... I'm honestly completely lost here, because it sounds like a lot of the Alchemy questline revolves around lore extending back to the 1.x series.

Beyond that, the vast majority of the crafter quests generally involve taking someone under your tutelage or training in Far Eastern crafting styles.

[Vele]

Culinarian: The chef of the cafe in Revenant's Toll wants to learn Far Eastern cuisine to cater to the Doman residents. He deeply admires the WoL because you are a master culinarian as well as an accomplished adventurer and so asks for your help. You assist him. Along the way he gains the approval of his Doman girlfriend's father.

Blacksmith: Girl from Kugane enrolls in the blacksmith guild because she aspires to be a swordsmith. You learn the reason why she travels all the way to Limsa Lominsa to refine her technique is because her master swordsmith father has a stick up his ass and refuses to take her as his student, as he feels she doesn't have the aptitude for it. You help her prove him wrong.

Carpenter: Spunky catgirl is worried about the guild's profits so after some research she wants to make Far Eastern furniture to increase sales. Guildmaster sends her to the Far East. You accompany her. She is too absorbed trying to prove her own skill. You help her realize the important thing is to satisfy the customer's needs. There is a tea party involved.

Leatherworker: Prissy elezen lady enlists your help to stuff animals so she can educate Gridanians on endangered species. Random Hearer gets his panties in a twist about taxidermy. Prissy elezen lady verbally bitchslaps him. The National Eorzean Geographic sells really well. Gaganas are really big.

Finished wvr as well, and the questline can pretty much be summed up as "you make pretty outfits for a geiko". Lore-wise, there's a festival in Kugane every year called the Kugane-odori, where the best performing geiko becomes (or remains) the star of the flower district. There is also an ancient Doman dance called the tennyo-no-mai, in which one must wear a tennyo hagomoro. It is based on a dance which called down an angel from the heavens, or so legend says.

There's not an awful lot of lore to be had from crafting quests, unfortunately. There's nothing noteworthy about bsm quests. The only worldbuilding related detail I can recall from crp quests is that people in Namai are totally okay with snarfing down food out in the open while the folks from the enclave prefer more privacy. Cul reveals that Ala Mhigo used to trade with Radz-at-Han. Also, in the past, soldiers used their bucklers as pots to cook with in the field. Ltw quests claim that grizzly bears in Gyr Abania are endangered (something related to the berries in their diet not being as plentiful due to the Garlean occupation), though I'm skeptical of this considering how many times I nearly got my face clawed off trying to gather in the Fringes. :P Three-feathered gaganas are also exceedingly scarce (if not already extinct) due to overhunting, as goods made with them were in outrageous demand right before the Calamity, when people were buying up things they normally could not afford in a panic.