The Elves of Lakeland and the Shadowkeeper - Lore Help!

[FaerieAura]

So, I'm trying to get my timelines straight for a few reasons, but the primary one is this: I'm planning on running a D&D campaign set in the wake of the Flood, specifically in the decade or so between the initial Flood of Light and the establishment of the Crystarium. I figured such a tumultuous time would be ripe for conflict as the world tries to adjust to its new reality, and while the Sin Eaters will play a major role, I want the focus to be on survival and conflict between the remaining peoples of the world. My current thought is to focus on the refugees who fled to Lakeland and their fight for survival, given that is it closest to the 'center' of the remainder of the world, and the remaining forces of the Shadowkeeper, who seem to still hold ground in the area to this day in the form of the remaining elven brigands and bandits who hold Laxan Loft.

Since I've not had a chance to complete all of the role quests yet, and I've been led to believe that they shed a lot of light on this particular storyline, can someone help me piece together the events of the Shadowkeeper's fall? From what I understand, the Shadowkeeper was actually one of the Warriors of Darkness, and the Ascians actually intended her fall to bring about the Flood of Light - it just so happened that the Warriors of Darkness had other plans and instead killed the Ascians. Did the Shadowkeeper survive? What happened to the elves that were part of her group? Was her rise immediately before the Flood of Light, as I've been led to believe?

I'm basically wanting the primary conflict of the campaign to be between these elven brigands and the refugees from the outlying areas who are trying to establish settlements on the outskirts of Lakeland in the wake of the Flood (particularly, at Fort Jobb and the Ostall Imperative), and I want to make sure that the scale of the conflict is appropriate - this entrenched, weakened, but far more organized force of elven bandits and warriors is not going to take kindly to the 'invaders' from outlying lands trying to come into their homeland, regardless of the flood of light. In fact, the Flood offers them the perfect opportunity to seize control. The players in the campaign are going to basically just be refugees themselves at first, but quickly establish themselves as capable warriors. They don't really have a choice - in this world, it's kill or be killed.

Any help anyone can provide would be much appreciated. I know this particular timeframe of the story has a lot of gaps, and I can interpret a lot - that's why I'm picking it - but I also want to make sure that I'm writing a story that at least somewhat fits into the existing canon, too.

[Anonymoose]

In terms of the timeline, that's about what we know, though your window is smaller just because the tower appeared 6-8 years after the Flood, and refugees came "seeking the spire" then, while the Exarch helped them with whatever they needed.

FINAL ROLE QUEST SPOILERS BELOW

The Ascians did not plan for the Flood of Light. Cylva was an alias taken by a Warrior of Light of the Thirteenth, whisked away and played like a trump card akin to Unukalhai. They led her to believe that (because the primordial forces always tend towards equilibrium) the Flood of Darkness that took her world would inevitably beget a Flood of Light to the world opposite. They told her that as redemption for failing to save her world she could help them them Rejoin this one to spare it the fate of becoming a void.

Whether this is the truth is already debatable. The primordial forces do tend towards equilibrium, but we've been told in the past that every shard has had a unique balance of Light and Darkness since the sundering itself, and so "equilibrium" need not mean a perfect 50/50 balance, just ... stability. The truth may have been that the First was Light-heavy all along and the Ascians just wanted to exploit it by using the Light to pull all elements unnaturally towards passivity ("Eorzean umbral") to destabilize it and create a Calamity not unlike the one ushered in by Bahamut ("Eorzean astral", all elements skewed towards activity by Darkness).

Anyroad, their plan was to put the world under extraordinary threat to beckon forth the creation of Warriors of Light, and then slay them to radically shift the balance at the same time as a disaster was triggered on the Source, leading to a Calamity/Rejoining.

Cylva was the Shadowkeeper, following Mitron and Loghrif to create problem after problem for Arbert's party to solve. Once they had been chosen by Hydaelyn and brought forth the Light, the world's elemental balance started to skew towards a stasis charge, as predicted. However, Cylva failed to kill the Warriors of Light. Instead, they spared her and struck down Mitron and Loghrif, triggering the Flood of Light.

Elidibus then stepped in and tried to clean things up, but failed that, as well (GO US!). Minfilia showed up and halted the Flood, the Ardbert et al disappeared, and Cylva went into hiding. (In plain sight.) So all of that took place roughly 100 years ago and intersects Patch 3.4 at the end, but time was all wibbly wobbly. Following that, the sin eaters show up, and Voeburt was destroyed 15 years after that.