For fans of Gridania and Limsa Lominsa

[Jaywalker]

Would you mind sharing some of your favorite bits of lore or other setting-related details?

I'm a big fan of worldbuilding, and feel like I have a good sense of places like Ul'dah, Ishgard, Dravania, etc. I've played through MSQ origins for Gridania and Limsa both, but honestly in Limsa sometimes got distracted by dialect. So figure asking people who love Gridania and Limsa Lominsa best might help me get a stronger sense of things. ^^

EDIT: Oop when I say Gridania and Limsa Lominsa just want to specify, this includes the Black Shroud and La Noscea in-general! I'm in the habit of including the whole region under the jurisdiction of the city state in-power. So ex. if you have Black Shroud lore you love about Keepers of the Moon who Gridanians may not always include in considering citizens, that still counts!

[Alleluia]

/Limsa fangirl powers activate!

I love that there's an active mugging going on in Limsa just outside the Drowning Wench. lol (Ok, "love" might be the wrong word, but it does amuse me.)

I like the whole Rhoswen -> Carvallain thing, also b/c it amuses me. Carvallain in general is rather interesting. His "spice" trade, his cliche tragic backstory.
And of course:

what is heavily implied to be his *actual* backstory of being the lost son of House Durendaire.

Far as I know, Limsa is the only city state that has beastmen traders (and mercs for hire) in it, which is a cool touch and makes sense given its port town status, as well as the independent spirit and and belief in meritocracy that's pretty prevalent throughout Limsa's culture.

Especially love the goblin in the aetheryte plaza. She has this weekly arrangement with the customs office where she has to renew her paperwork, but she's extremely nervous about going to talk to the agents, so she asks you to. Its shown pretty clearly that the arcanists are being really nice about it, though, and willing to accept what are essentially crayon scribbles on some parchment as "official" to let her keep trading.

Also, this isn't Limsa, but in Limsa's territory: In Aleport there's an amusing situation in nothing but text bubbles of a Yellowjacket captain reaming out a hyur man and a roe woman. You don't know why till you wander over to the other yellow jackets further away and see them talk and put it together. The two were apparently caught "fraternizing". In the captain's bunk, no less.

I like all the little side quests in Limsa Lominsa. Let's you get a real sense of the people there. There's all sort of interesting or amusing bits of world building in this game. I can't think of any from Gridania off the top of my head, but I'm sure they have some, too. Limsa will always be my favorite, though.

EDIT: Also its kinda cool that the Aftcastle, and the Bulwark hall at the bottom specifically, was built with city defense in mind. Bulwark Hall is made to be able to choke point and hold off invaders from middle LN there. Its why its called "bulwark" in the first place.

[Enkidoh]

As a Gridanian since before the Calamity, I can fill in some details about Gridania that I know of.

One of the biggest changes from the 'pre-Calamity' Gridania to the current city is the entrances to and from the Black Shroud were actually different prior to the Calamity. Back then, you had to travel over long bridges that ran across the Jadeite Flood into the city proper. These were destroyed in the Calamity though, and the rebuilding of the city changed the entrances to direct gates into the Central Shroud (and a new gate was built into the North Shroud as well). However a sharp-eyed adventurer can still tell where these bridges once ran by looking out towards the Jadeite Flood between the Carline Canopy and the Blue Badger Gate - the tall stone pylons that formerly supported the bridges remain standing in the lake, silent testimony to the past. I thought that was a nice little nod to the game's past (as the loooong passages into and out of the three cities in FFXIV 1.0 was a major complaint by players).

And speaking of the Blue Badger Gate, the colour coding of the original four gates of Gridania were actually references to the four traditional main 'colour' mage Job classes of the FF series: Blue Badger Gate (Blue Mage), Red Otter Gate (Red Mage), White Wolf Gate (White Mage), and Black Boar Gate (Black Mage). This was subverted in ARR though with the construction of the Yellow Serpent Gate into the North Shroud (referencing the flag of Gridania).

Another little thing often overlooked, is that it was Gridania that was responsible for setting up Eorzea's Moogle Delivery Service in the aftermath of the Calamity - when you speak to a Delivery moogle for the first time they mention that the "little horned ones" (referring to the padjal) entreated the moogles for assistance in restoring communication between the citystates following the Calamity, as most direct communication had been severed due the original aetheryte and linkshell networks being destroyed by the massive overflow of aether in the disaster and the roads being choked with refugees fleeing the chaos.

A final little reference to the past Gridania is the levemete out in Bentbranch Meadows, Tierney, was formerly the assistant levemete at the Carline Canopy's leve counter prior to the Calamity. So now she's been given an assignment of her own out in the field.

[Bright-Flower]

And speaking of the Blue Badger Gate, the colour coding of the original four gates of Gridania were actually references to the four traditional main 'colour' mage Job classes of the FF series: Blue Badger Gate (Blue Mage), Red Otter Gate (Red Mage), White Wolf Gate (White Mage), and Black Boar Gate (Black Mage). This was subverted in ARR though with the construction of the Yellow Serpent Gate into the North Shroud (referencing the flag of Gridania).

OR, yellow mage confirmed for 6.0?!