Its about the Duskwight Elezen.

[Sla1n]

I completed msq, HW and SB. I have lvl 70 DRK NIN and now i am doing monk and Lancer. One day when i was in lvling roulette i meet a Duskwight Elezen player. And it hit me (not the player the realization). That i was seeing a Duskwight Elezen for the first time since Foulques (also the only notable Duskwight Elezen NPC who i can remember).
Where are they? They live in caves that's the only thing i remember about them. Are they so few or just simply forgotten. There are so many cat's and dragons and Loli's why there is so few Duskwight Elezen? Not even in Gridania so it must be true that all Gridanian's are xenophobes but the rest of the Eorzea too?
Also sorry for not including tag's i have no idea what to write.

[Vidu]

There are probably two (main) reasons for this:

First, as you noted correctly, the Duskwight Elezen live in caves, to be more specific: In caves/ruins that were once the underground city of Gelmorra, where the elezen were forced to live when the elementals kicked them out of the forest. When they finally struck a pact with the elementals that allowed them to return to the overworld and built Gridania, some stayed behind, not wanting to abandon what they've built and those are the ancestors of the Duskwight, who are still upholding this belief. Or in other words: They have no desire to live in big cities and the like, so naturally we dont see them there.

Secondly due to their... life-style, a lot of Duskwight resort to stealing, so they're not really well liked by the "civilized" cityfolks. Thats especially the case in Gridania, with the Wildwood elezen looking down on their supposdly "lesser" brothers (yep, a bunch of xenophobic nazis, thats what Gridania is, basically) but also for other citystates - I recall a questline in Ul'dah (maybe one of the mail-moogle ones? Or Hilli even? Or the Beasttribe-quest? Not sure anymore) that involved something being stolen with the suspicion being cast immidiatly on a Duskwight Elezen. They pretty much have a bad reputation everywhere.
So they're not excatly very well liked, but outcasts.

They dont seem to have a desire to live/stay/be in the cities and the cities have no desire to have them around either. So its no surprise to rarely see them...


Edit: I did some digging and the quest I had in mind is "Sudul Eht Nioj", indeed a Delivery Moogle Quest involving the gladiators from Halatli HM. Langloisiert, the lancer, is a Duskwight elezen aswell - I dont wanna spoil the rest, but you might wanna do that quest to get an idea about how Duskwights are treated in the cities!

[zuzu-bq]

The player population on Duskwight is nice because it reflects a bit of their lore. They aren't around much and people will see them as odd and impure. There is actual racism on them on the lore, and that's pretty neat to me, makes the world feel more real because people will be jerks even on a fantasy world. You'll have the most of their lore on Side Quests inlcluding information about Gelmorra. A lot of the worldbuilding is done throught side quests, do check them out!

On top of that, Duskwights are a recent ramification of Elezen (they were "born" after the War of Magi, which is a quite recent calamity).

[Sla1n]

There are probably two (main) reasons for this:

First, as you noted correctly, the Duskwight Elezen live in caves, to be more specific: In caves/ruins that were once the underground city of Gelmorra, where the elezen were forced to live when the elementals kicked them out of the forest. When they finally struck a pact with the elementals that allowed them to return to the overworld and built Gridania, some stayed behind, not wanting to abandon what they've built and those are the ancestors of the Duskwight, who are still upholding this belief. Or in other words: They have no desire to live in big cities and the like, so naturally we dont see them there.

Secondly due to their... life-style, a lot of Duskwight resort to stealing, so they're not really well liked by the "civilized" cityfolks. Thats especially the case in Gridania, with the Wildwood elezen looking down on their supposdly "lesser" brothers (yep, a bunch of xenophobic nazis, thats what Gridania is, basically) but also for other citystates - I recall a questline in Ul'dah (maybe one of the mail-moogle ones? Or Hilli even? Or the Beasttribe-quest? Not sure anymore) that involved something being stolen with the suspicion being cast immidiatly on a Duskwight Elezen. They pretty much have a bad reputation everywhere.
So they're not excatly very well liked, but outcasts.

They dont seem to have a desire to live/stay/be in the cities and the cities have no desire to have them around either. So its no surprise to rarely see them...


Edit: I did some digging and the quest I had in mind is "Sudul Eht Nioj", indeed a Delivery Moogle Quest involving the gladiators from Halatli HM. Langloisiert, the lancer, is a Duskwight elezen aswell - I dont wanna spoil the rest, but you might wanna do that quest to get an idea about how Duskwights are treated in the cities!

Hmmm oke thanks for the info though i think SE should put some love into them too. I am sick of the Cat's and how much screen time they get.

[zuzu-bq]

Funny enough the player population on miqo'te also reflects their lore decently. Miqo'tes are literally everywhere around Erozea. It's like SE knew cat people would be a popular race :^)

[Vidu]

Hmmm oke thanks for the info though i think SE should put some love into them too. I am sick of the Cat's and how much screen time they get.

While I wouldnt mind seeing less of the cats, I kinda like how "diverse" and, in a sense, consistent the game is. I think the only reason that I remember that quest is that I was still playing a Duskwight Elezen when I did it and actually felt a little "offended" by it, which was great!

I totally wouldnt mind finding a hidden entrance to parts of Gelmorra and a small Duskwight civiliuation within it to learn more about their lore without contradicting that by putting them in places that they "dont belong".

...also... for HW you mainly had Elezen screentime! Not Duskwight but Wildwood, but almost no cats thanks to Ishgards xenophobic nature.
...which makes me wonder right now if (Wildwood) Elezen just have a gene for xenophobia...

[Jaycil_Haukke]

...also... for HW you mainly had Elezen screentime! Not Duskwight but Wildwood, but almost no cats thanks to Ishgards xenophobic nature.
...which makes me wonder right now if (Wildwood) Elezen just have a gene for xenophobia...

Years later, but might as well mention that thanks to lore books, we now know that Duskwight and Wildwood only applies to Gelmorran Elezen. Ishgardian Elezen relocated in Coerthas when Hyur pushed Elezen off their previous lands. Those Elezen that went to the Shroud were a different group that split into Wildwood and Duskwight after the emigration from Gelmorra.

More unrelated, but I've also seen a theory based on the lore book info that the Hyur and Elezen that created Gridania rededicated Gelmorra (or what was left of it) to the elementals even though there were likely still people (Duskwights or their ancestors) living there. Not sure how that would be done (maybe breaking the warding pottery, hence broken Gelmorran potsherds), but it would explain the enmity between clans if that were an ancient Duskwight's perspective.
Honestly, so much is uncertain surrounding Duskwights that you can theory-craft or make up just about anything. It's just as likely to be canon-compliant. A true blessing and curse for Duskwight lore seekers. The sad thing is that, at this point, we're unlikely to ever get any concrete answers about Duskwights. They just won't get as much attention lore/narrative-wise.

[Cleretic]

More unrelated, but I've also seen a theory based on the lore book info that the Hyur and Elezen that created Gridania rededicated Gelmorra (or what was left of it) to the elementals even though there were likely still people (Duskwights or their ancestors) living there. Not sure how that would be done (maybe breaking the warding pottery, hence broken Gelmorran potsherds), but it would explain the enmity between clans if that were an ancient Duskwight's perspective.
Honestly, so much is uncertain surrounding Duskwights that you can theory-craft or make up just about anything. It's just as likely to be canon-compliant. A true blessing and curse for Duskwight lore seekers. The sad thing is that, at this point, we're unlikely to ever get any concrete answers about Duskwights. They just won't get as much attention lore/narrative-wise.

I always got the idea, or at least had the preference, that the Gridania-Gelmorra conflict was entirely mundane. No magic wards, no secret truth about the Elementals Gelmorra holds against them, just a campaign of straight-up abuse followed by a campaign of straight-up neglect, with constant background noise of bigotry. The Duskwight that still stay/stayed in Gelmorra weren't doing it because of some deep special reason, but just because it's their home.

Until they actually write anything about Gelmorra they can't tell me I'm wrong!

[Iscah]

They're around if you're looking for them. Most noticably the two researchers at Issom-Har in the South Shroud; also I believe the Redbelly Wasps are all Duskwights. There's at least one NPC in Gridania (getting hassled by some other people outside the Lancers' Guild if I remember correctly) and a Wood Wailer in one of the post-ARR Ramuh quests.

Outside of Gridania, I can think of Quentenain at the Drowning Wench, an unnamed NPC at the Goldsmiths' Guild, and... Jandelaine the aesthetician. (He's actually Ishgardian but that's only brought up in a Lv50 sidequest.) There's also a Sharlayan character in the AST plotline.

While looking at character data, I discovered a few Ishgardian characters have Duskwight models as well - Ysayle, Ser Grinnaux, and surprisingly Count Edmont, but not his sons. (Although by lore the Ishgardians separated from the Gridanians prior to the Wildwood/Duskwight split.)


I also thought Urianger might be a Duskwight, since he has his Sharlayan mark on his cheek, similar to the Duskwight-specific tattoos - though according to the character data, he's a Wildwood.


And yes, they do get blamed fairly often for things - I can also vaguely remember the quest Vidu was talking about (you fight someone at Stonesthrow?) and during that "failed raid on the black marketeer" in the post-ARR quests, you're told it was a group of Duskwight mercenaries and Ilberd's team are pursuing them. Also one of the Gridanian levequest descriptions blames them for vandalism.


I really wish they went into more depth about them. One of my alt characters is a Duskwight just because I liked the design, so now I want to know more about them because I have no real idea what actually defines them beyond "they live in caves, except for the ones that don't". Even the lorebook has very little - a few details without much 'big picture' information. And why is Gelmorra abandoned if they're specifically the ones that chose to stay behind there?


The few bits of useful lore I can remember being given in-game:

Lv22 MSQ: Druthers House Rules
Buscarron: In case you didn't see, the bloke who caught the brunt of that outburst is a Duskwight Elezen. They're a people who shun cities to live in the wilds, making them no better than brigands in the eyes of many. To be fair, the Duskwights can be an unruly lot, but they ain't so bad once you get to know them. And it don't seem right to bar a whole race of people from the Druthers for the misdeeds of a few.

Lv22 sidequest: Potsherds for Posterity
Rolandaix: I am all but convinced that we stand in what was once Gelmorra's residential district. Alas, I have yet to recover a sufficiency of domestic objects to confirm my theory. [These artifacts are hundreds of years old.]
[...]
My work here is far from done, but this discovery brings me one tantalizing step closer to realizing my dream: the restoration of these ruins, and their reestablishment as a settlement for the Duskwight Elezen. Gridanians have long perceived my people as outcasts and brigands, yet if we Duskwights can return a measure of prosperity to this fallen city, we would no longer need to resort to common theft or banditry in order to make ends meet. Imagine it!

So yeah.... what happened to make them abandon the city?

(yep, a bunch of xenophobic nazis, thats what Gridania is, basically)

Xenophobic? Yes. Nazis? No. That's not a description you use lightly, and Gridania is not at that point.

[zuzu-bq]

So yeah.... what happened to make them abandon the city?

The Shroud became avaliable again once the Water Calamity settled down, it isn't made clear why but Gelmorra itself wasn't sustainable, its people either collapsed with it or left it. The fall of Dalamud and the current Calamity supposedly destroyed Duskwight caves and residencies.

That being said, Gelmorra fell and Gridania thrived. Duskwights were those that stuck with the latter.