Calamities explained

[Edax]

As explained by the Exarch:

To begin at the beginning, then... In the ancient past, a single star was divided into fourteen worlds. [...] Though physically separate, they retain a connection to each other, and the Source especially. Now, let us assume that a given element in one of the shards attains abnormal ascendancy. Just as water will flow from the highest point to the lowest, the excess energy will begin trickling into the Source... And such an influx of aether will of course exert a palpable influence. If the element in question were fire, then drought and wild fires might ensue. If it were ice, one might expect the weather to turn bitterly cold. As aether continues to pour in, such phenomena will become more and more extreme, until eventually, a single untimely event triggers a disaster which "cracks" the barrier dividing the two worlds. What was once a trickle now becomes a deluge, sweeping the shard along to be rejoined with the Source. At the same time, the element which held sway in the shard is unleashed in full, its energies amplifying the original disaster to truly catastrophic proportions. An earthquake thus magnified might strike with enough force to shatter continents; a tidal wave might swell to a size capable of drowning entire nations. These devastating events are what we refer to as "Umbral Calamities."

What happens I believe is that a shard is deliberately unbalanced with it's aspect. As explained by the Exarch, it seems to be a slow process as the shard is drained into the Source until a great increase brings about a calamity.

As for what was suppose to happen on the First:
"Their battles brought them knowledge of a hidden mastermind behind the realm's woes, named the Shadowkeeper. The Warriors of Light were accompanied by an elf swordswoman named Cylva who unbeknownst to them, had her own dark agenda. She eventually revealed herself as the Shadowkeeper, who by instructions of the Ascians Mithron and Loghrif, tempered Ardbert and his companions into becoming the Warriors of Light and obtaining their crystals so that they could push the First to the brink of destruction and bring about the Umbral Calamity by killing her."

So perhaps on a fire heavy world, the Ascians might have someone slayed related to Leviathan or someone trying to maintain the water aether on that shard.

[SKgaming]

Ok thanks for this.

But what elemental unbalance would have occurred in the first if the Warriors of Light had indeed killed Cylva (The Shadowkeeper)? Would it have been a Shadow Calamity on the source then?

Is it that the timeline where the black plague was unleashed on the Source the result of Cylva actually dying? and the current timeline is one where she lived, hence avoiding the calamity from occurring on the source?

Sorry I still find this all very confusing.

[Edax]

Ok thanks for this.

But what elemental unbalance would have occurred in the first if the Warriors of Light had indeed killed Cylva (The Shadowkeeper)? Would it have been a Shadow Calamity on the source then?

Is it that the timeline where the black plague was unleashed on the Source the result of Cylva actually dying? and the current timeline is one where she lived, hence avoiding the calamity from occurring on the source?

Sorry I still find this all very confusing.

It's the other way around, the First was very light heavy. Killing the shadowkeeper should have resulted in too much light, which should have been the event for a light-based calamity in the Source. Eventually the First would have been consumed by the Light due to the machinations of Eulmore over the course of decades.

"Urianger finds that the Source's understanding of active aether as "astral" and static aether as "umbral" is the reverse of what the people of the First believe. As the color white is produced by the absence of other colors, the First came to call static aether "light," while the color black is produced by the absorption of all colors, so they call the active aether 'darkness'

With this new information, Urianger deduces that since the Black Rose operates by bringing its victims' aether to a standstill, it must have a strong affinity with static or "light" aether. Having uncovered the process of Umbral Calamity, Urianger explains that as the First reaches true stasis, the Flood of Light would begin leaking light aether to the Source. He concludes that in the future, the Empire's use of the Black Rose coincided with the First being completely consumed by the light and Rejoining with the Source. This unleashed a massive amount of light aether on the Source, resulting in Black Rose's unexpected potency and causing the Eighth Umbral Calamity." - https://finalfantasy.fandom.com/wiki...al_Fantasy_XIV)