Do othardians have the capacity to use the Echo?

[WhyAmIHere]

If so, how would their culture react / what would it be called?

[MistakeNot]

I know of no reason why they wouldn't be able to have the Echo.

As for how their culture would react the answer is almost certainly the same as for the average Eorzeans reaction: None at all, since very few people are even aware of the existence of the Echo.

[KageTokage]

I tend to assume Au Ra WoLs are native to Othard, as all of the notable Au Ra NPCs you encounter in Eorzea are foreigners, plus the race as a whole is noted as being a fairly recent arrival in Eorzea, the bulk of them seeking shelter from Garlean oppression with some small number of others traveling there for business ventures and other less serious reasons. So yes, Othardians presumably can use the Echo.

We really don't know anything about the Echo's presence in regions outside of Eorzea, though, and now I'm kind of curious to see if they'll explore that in Stormblood's MSQ. I do find it a little odd that they've kind of dropped the whole deal with the Scions trying to seek out Echo-blessed individuals since 2.0.

[TinyRedLeaf]

None at all, since very few people are even aware of the existence of the Echo.

That's not quite true, although this admittedly won't be apparent to non-legacy players who weren't around during 1.0.

One of the reasons Minfilia founded the Path of the Twelve, the precursor to the Scions of the Seventh Dawn, was to give shelter to the Echo-gifted shunned by their communities due to misunderstanding or superstition.

Neophyte Pathwalkers were assigned more senior Path Companions, to help them learn to harness their enigmatic gift. Minfilia also mentioned that some Pathwalkers embarked on personal journeys of self-discovery. Some never returned. Those that did refused to talk about what they found.

In short, a very different storyline involving the Echo was likely intended, but it was lost after Yoshida took over.

[Enkidoh]

TinyRedLeaf is exactly right, however the Path Companions were not necessarily 'more senior', the player's one was presumed to be just as green about the Echo as they were. But what was clear was that the whole reason for the Path of the Twelve's existence was because those awoken to the Echo were considered monsters and shunned, they were ostracized and stigmatized, thus the Path was meant not just as a research guild for the Echo, but also a place of sanctuary (this was shown in 1.0 where a little lalafell girl had been thrown out into the street by her wealthy Ul'dahn parents simply because she told them she was having "visions", which led to a poor yet kindly peddler to take her to the Waking Sands where she was given a place to stay).

Sadly as TinyRedLeaf mentioned much of the emphasis on researching the Echo and providing a place of sanctuary for those awoken to it was kind of shoved aside in ARR following the Path's reorganization into the Scions after the Calamity, but some of it can still be seen in the current organization (alas one of the Path's methods of finding those awoken to the Echo, in the form of 'watchers' who were kind of like Echo-user talent scouts, seems to have been abandoned, instead the Archons seemed to have taken on that task). I think much of what we're seeing now with how the Echo is handled was what was always planned for 1.0, it's just 1.0's muddled development meant it never got the chance to be fully fleshed out, and ARR kind of pushed things aside to get onto the more pressing matters of dealing with the Primals, so it took time before even ARR got to deal with it adquetely. No doubt we will continue to see the mysteries surrounding the Echo continue to be revealed as the game's story progresses in the future.

[Anonymoose]

Personally, I'm still rather cautious in estimating how common knowledge of the Echo has been in which years. People with it were feared and shunned, to be sure, but how many were shunned by the commonfolk because "They have the Echo!" or even "They have that ... that ... thing people are getting!" and not just because they had strange, unknown powers that came from gods know where? Probably a demon from the Seventh Hell, am I right!?

It only sounded in 1562 (as far as we know) and only the Sharlayans seem to have known it at the time (as far as we know). Minfilia received it in 1567 and spent a year unable to identify it beyond "seeing visions" before she confided in Thancred, Thancred reported to Louisoix, and Louisoix wrote her a letter in which he compared her to the Archons of legend and she labored to believe he was serious.

Three years later, after she'd founded her "obscure sect to worship the Twelve" surrounded by "walkers that follow her path" (a lie within truth), she still didn't tell you what it was until you passed a test that confirmed you had it, and as recently as this year Zenos had to learn about it from Gaius's notes.

But could people have it elsewhere? That's a definite maybe! If we're to believe the tale of the Zodiac Braves (Thavnairian Version), a Calamity was once stopped in the Near East, right? Did Hydaelyn send a bunch of Eorzeans to deal with that and make them travel, or did she choose people nearby to where the action was? Recall that, according to the story, the Warrior of Light is intended to be a foreigner (from a vague anywhere) and didn't get chosen until they arrived in Eorzea, where the action was (though you can opt-out of this if you wish), which can make either plausible. Krile received the Echo only ten years ago, post-Sharlayan Exodus, so that alone seems like a potential hint you can be at least a little out-of-realm, unless there's specifics we don't know.

It's one of those things that doesn't seem impossible logically but we have no evidence for yet.

(As far as I know...?)

[ObsidianFire]

Related to this... what do people outside of Eorzea think Hydaelyn is? Do they even think she exists? Relevant since the Echo is linked to her and if the people in Othard don't know Hydaelyn as well, Hydaelyn, then there's a good chance they might not know the Echo as the Echo even when they do have it.

[Naraku_Diabolos]

With what Moose pointed out, our characters are all adults in this game format, and when a new character is starting fresh, they are developing the Echo. Then with what form of the Echo we start out with in 2.0, it evolves over the course of the MSQ. It's likely that if a character grows into adolescents, the Echo actually starts surfacing. Just like how Minfillia and Krile had at a young age, but not quite that young. It could be possible that all Eorzeans or people of Hydaelyn can possess the Echo, it's just that something has to literally trigger it. Maybe it is when Hydaelyn calls out to us, that the Echo awakens?

In Othard, it may not be documented as much, and could have been seen as something not common. Mostly an abnormality, and the people were few and far between. The reason that the pure-blood Garleans may not possess the Echo is because they are atheists, and do not have a set faith in which they believe that the Mother Crystal exists. Faith could also be a key in how the Echo is triggered.

What do you think, Moose?

[TinyRedLeaf]

I'm of the opinion that only the Scions and Echo-users are aware of Hydaelyn's role as the Mother Crystal.

As far as common Eorzeans are concerned, the pantheon they're familiar with is that of the Twelve. I don't recall any scene, quest (MSQ or otherwise) or side-story where an NPC specifically "worships" Hydaelyn, or "believes" in Her existence.

Similary, ordinary Othardians have their own pantheon. They believe in the kami. And again, I have yet to come across any evidence showing that they're aware of a Mother Crystal.

Echo visions, or any other manifestation of the Echo, would be seen as an abnormality, maybe as a gift, maybe as a curse. But unless the Echo-gifted individual meets the Scions, or perhaps some other Sharlayan scholar who is in the know, it's unlikely that the individual, Eorzean or Othardian, would independently figure out the source of the Echo on his or her own.

[Rocl]

I'm of the opinion that only the Scions and Echo-users are aware of Hydaelyn's role as the Mother Crystal.

As far as common Eorzeans are concerned, the pantheon they're familiar with is that of the Twelve. I don't recall any scene, quest (MSQ or otherwise) or side-story where an NPC specifically "worships" Hydaelyn, or "believes" in Her existence.

A very minor nitpick I feel compelled to point out is that the Grand Company leaders, at the very least, have knowledge of Hydaelyn and the Echo. The Adventurer's Guild representatives too, I think. I remember being rightly annoyed when 2.0 launched that these once Twelve worshiping figureheads were spouting off some new age "May you ever walk in the Light of the Crystal" and "It is Hydaelyn herself who speaks to you!" nonsense.