6.0 Story Speculations

[Tensaihime]

Mainly because the scriptwriters won't let anyone get seriously harmed when they try. I imagine the WoL wouldn't be so intent on trying to talk to Fandaniel if a past Ascian had, idk, killed somebody close to us when they tried to talk'em into being morally upstanding.

True! This being the endgame, I wonder that that’s about to change. Plus the Ascians and their shenanigans have taken enough people out even without diplomacy failing, maybe Matoya will give a repeat of the HW scene and remind us of why we need to go hard?

It's actually kind of a recent development for the WoL, I feel, to be this way. Perhaps Alphinaud has rubbed off on him. I don't much appreciate it, especially after already having a villain like Fandaniel in Nidhogg. Not exactly alike, mind you, but there was no reasoning with Nidhogg. There was barely reasoning with Hraesvelgr.

I don’t much want that either. I actually like Alph now, but I remember rolling my eyes at the screen and calling his plan meals on wheels because I knew it wasn’t going to work, and his dabbling in politics had already cost us everything as it was. It felt borderline insulting. It’s not a bad thing that he still considers every life valuable, but in the endgame I worry that mindset could cause him to do something reckless and get in big trouble.

In fact, now that I really think back on it, usually in the past we've never tried to reason with our foes. Garleans in Castrum Meridianum? No reasoning. We kill them or caused them to flee. Gaius extends an olive branch, saying we could be his right hand.

Ishgard's Pope? Aymeric tried and Alphinaud (of all people) called him a blind idealist. We sure as shoot didn't try talking to him, and even got a dialogue option about making Ser Zepherin pay.

Warriors of Darkness? Nope. No talkin' attempted. Ilberd? Nope.

Hmmm... maybe Azem's Crystal is already playing on our mind?

I know you’re making a point here and I’m doing a guilty laugh, but when I think about the Azem stone I get all excited and wonder what other cool stuff the WoL will do with it... and then I wonder and worry if it will come as a cost to the WoL’s identity.

[Kesey]

I do have a speculation about the beginning of 6.0: we'll be heading to Old Sharlayan first, and then due to their intransigence or perhaps some emergency, we'll go to Radz-at-Han. I think the "emergency" possibility is less likely, because in the Endwalker trailer, Urianger and Thancred are apprehensive about a coming disaster, but one which has not yet happened.

As for why we will go to Old Sharlayan first, there's a picture from the recent Fanfest (and probably before that, but the screenshot I have is from Fanfest):

(Spoilered for size.)

That's a Sharlayan-style aetheryte, in a location labelled as Thavnair.

The first thought I had was that this may be a Sharlayan enclave in Thavnair, perhaps in Radz-at-Han proper, or perhaps some short distance, and thus we have to go through a zone story to get to Radz-at-Han, the way we go through Kholusia on the way to Eulmore.

So if this is indeed a Sharlayan enclave, we might be going to Old Sharlayan first, get stonewalled by the Forum, and then some sympathizers contact us and recommend we go to Radz-at-Han for some reason. And this Sharlayan enclave in Thavnair is our initial support base there, allowing us access into Radz-at-Han with some diplomatic weight, instead of just being travellers and tourists.

Admittedly, I could be wrong. The biggest point against this speculation is that the buildings shown in that screenshot are very much Thavnairan in style, rather than Sharlayan. And we know Sharlayans like to basically copy-and-paste their architectural style anywhere they make a presence, like in the Dravanian Hinterlands and Idyllshire.

I like your theory, but it is well known lore that Sharlayan constructed all of the aetherytes in the world, which they learned about from excavating Allagan ruins containing aetherytes. Given this note, there could just be a jovial trade alliance between Thavnairia and Sharlayan, say an aetheryte for any rare thing Thavnairia can get it's hands on. It may not play into the plot at all, just be a side note building lore.

[KageTokage]

I feel like we're going to have the traditional zone split yet again prior to the first dungeon (For the sake of reducing zone crowding).

I'd assume some of Scions are going to be prying into Sharlayan matters in Labyrinthos and researching a method to resist tempering while the others are going to monitor the tower situation over in Thravnair, then they'll band together and raid the tower proper once preparations are complete.

I feel uncertain of everything after that, though. Perhaps the Scions will want to head to the heart of the problem in Garlemald ASAP once they get a better grasp of what the towers are doing, though we'll only manage to arrive just in time to witness the opening of the '"gate of the gods" afterwhich the remainder of the story is going to be a frantic race to figure out how to stop the Final Days and get to the moon.

[YianKutku]

I really like this theory! I definitely feel like Radz-at-Han comes before Sharlayan in terms of locations we can visit. I'm feeling Radz-at-Han being the Crystarium of Endwalker whilst Sharlayan will be the more endgame Eulmore zone.

Technically Radz-at-Han is the "Eulmore" zone, according to the devs. Specifically, it's the "small city" zone, ie the one with the endgame currency exchanges, serving the same purpose as Eulmore, Rhalgr's Reach, and Idyllshire.

Having said that, generally the "small city" zones don't have marketboards (which are the domain of the "big city" zones), but that would feel really weird for Radz-at-Han, the centre of trade on Three Great Continents.

So honestly I agree that Radz-at-Han should feel more like the "big city" zone with the marketboards, and Sharlayan, with their cutting-edge researches, would fit Rowena's entrepreneurship for the endgame currency House Of Splendours in the "small city".

I like your theory, but it is well known lore that Sharlayan constructed all of the aetherytes in the world, which they learned about from excavating Allagan ruins containing aetherytes. Given this note, there could just be a jovial trade alliance between Thavnairia and Sharlayan, say an aetheryte for any rare thing Thavnairia can get it's hands on. It may not play into the plot at all, just be a side note building lore.

Technically the aetherytes in the Far East were constructed by the Onishishu. (Who call them "tenkonto", but that's semantics.) And then there are the "wild" aetherytes, as well as the ones from Allagan times.

My point was the shape of the aetherytes, which are definitely based on Sharlayan aesthetics in the screenshot. "Wild"/"natural" aetherytes are pointy spiky crystals, and the usual aetherytes we see in Eorzea are diamond-shaped (geometrical kites) that resemble those, but slightly smoothed. The Far Eastern tenkonto are also vaguely kite-shaped, but with further embellishments and smoothing and additional curves.

And Allagan aetherytes come in various shapes (Doylistically due to different designs across the years and expansions), but according to the second lorebook, the one the Sharlayans found and studied for their aetheryte network looks more like a crystalline USB. (Like the Ragnarok Internment Hulk from Dalamud, but shrunk down and truncated to look more like a tomestone.)

So the point is the shape of the aetheryte clearly doesn't have much of an effect on the function, and Sharlayan's nautilus-spiral aetheryte design is based on their worship of Thaliak (or descent from Amaurot, depending on speculation). This nautilus design of aetheryte is seen in that Thavnair screenshot, and is not anything like the more "regular" pointy kite shape of the aetheryte we saw indoors in a previous Radz-at-Han screenshot, so it can't be a "Thavnair-style" aetheryte either.

Therefore, the aetheryte is specifically Sharlayan-style, rather than merely Sharlayan-constructed. And I was wondering why.

[Vyrerus]

Therefore, the aetheryte is specifically Sharlayan-style, rather than merely Sharlayan-constructed. And I was wondering why.

What's kinda weird is that Thavnair is the outside area zone, and it has the Sharlayan aethereyte. Radz-at-han is the city zone, and it has a normal aethereyte. Also the music that plays for Radz-at-han is a middle eastern instrumental version of the part of the Endwalker trailer theme that plays with the woman singing while the camera pans over Old Sharlayan.

I'm thinking that the nautilus aethereyte is a new type that doubles as a barrier against tower tempering, given the proximity of the tower to Thavnair. Note that the aethereyte in Labyrinthos is also normal, and that is supposed to be deep underground... away from towers.

[Kesey]

Technically Radz-at-Han is the "Eulmore" zone, according to the devs. Specifically, it's the "small city" zone, ie the one with the endgame currency exchanges, serving the same purpose as Eulmore, Rhalgr's Reach, and Idyllshire.

Having said that, generally the "small city" zones don't have marketboards (which are the domain of the "big city" zones), but that would feel really weird for Radz-at-Han, the centre of trade on Three Great Continents.

So honestly I agree that Radz-at-Han should feel more like the "big city" zone with the marketboards, and Sharlayan, with their cutting-edge researches, would fit Rowena's entrepreneurship for the endgame currency House Of Splendours in the "small city".



Technically the aetherytes in the Far East were constructed by the Onishishu. (Who call them "tenkonto", but that's semantics.) And then there are the "wild" aetherytes, as well as the ones from Allagan times.

My point was the shape of the aetherytes, which are definitely based on Sharlayan aesthetics in the screenshot. "Wild"/"natural" aetherytes are pointy spiky crystals, and the usual aetherytes we see in Eorzea are diamond-shaped (geometrical kites) that resemble those, but slightly smoothed. The Far Eastern tenkonto are also vaguely kite-shaped, but with further embellishments and smoothing and additional curves.

And Allagan aetherytes come in various shapes (Doylistically due to different designs across the years and expansions), but according to the second lorebook, the one the Sharlayans found and studied for their aetheryte network looks more like a crystalline USB. (Like the Ragnarok Internment Hulk from Dalamud, but shrunk down and truncated to look more like a tomestone.)

So the point is the shape of the aetheryte clearly doesn't have much of an effect on the function, and Sharlayan's nautilus-spiral aetheryte design is based on their worship of Thaliak (or descent from Amaurot, depending on speculation). This nautilus design of aetheryte is seen in that Thavnair screenshot, and is not anything like the more "regular" pointy kite shape of the aetheryte we saw indoors in a previous Radz-at-Han screenshot, so it can't be a "Thavnair-style" aetheryte either.

Therefore, the aetheryte is specifically Sharlayan-style, rather than merely Sharlayan-constructed. And I was wondering why.

I think you answered your own question. Why would both of these Island nations have an aetheryte based on Thaliak worship? Because Thaliak is the god of water.

[Erendis]

What if Thavnair has more than one aetheryte? The one in the trailer might be in (former) Sharlayan settlement. And the other(s) might look like the one in Radz-at-Han. We have even three aetherytes in a lot of Norvrandt maps.

[YianKutku]

I think you answered your own question. Why would both of these Island nations have an aetheryte based on Thaliak worship? Because Thaliak is the god of water.

Only in the context of Eorzea; we know other places outside Eorzea have their own belief system. We don't know what beliefs Thavnair has, but based on the ARR Relics, apparently they have the same Zodiac system as the Greeks from Earth.

Thaliak is a god of water, specifically rivers. The other deity of water is Nymeia, who curiously doesn't have any domain over actual aquatic bodies, and instead deals with "celestial bodies" and fate.

The other water-related deity actually has the domain of wind, and is the patron goddess of a prominent island nation: Llymlaen, the goddess of oceans. Which would matter a lot more to island nations than rivers, which Thaliak commands.

Sharlayan worships Thaliak not because of the water aspect, but because of the knowledge aspect. Thavnair, as far as we know, does not have the same cultural context. So it would be odd for them to specifically worship Thaliak enough to construct an aetheryte in the nautilus shape.

What if Thavnair has more than one aetheryte? The one in the trailer might be in (former) Sharlayan settlement. And the other(s) might look like the one in Radz-at-Han. We have even three aetherytes in a lot of Norvrandt maps.

That's what I suggested, yes. We start out in a "small town" area, ie a non-instanced settlement in the larger zone, which has that Sharlayan-style aetheryte. Then we do several quests to gain entry into Radz-at-Han, which is its own instanced "city" zone. Hence the different aetheryte styles.

[EaraGrace]

Only in the context of Eorzea; we know other places outside Eorzea have their own belief system. We don't know what beliefs Thavnair has, but based on the ARR Relics, apparently they have the same Zodiac system as the Greeks from Earth.

Thaliak is a god of water, specifically rivers. The other deity of water is Nymeia, who curiously doesn't have any domain over actual aquatic bodies, and instead deals with "celestial bodies" and fate.

The other water-related deity actually has the domain of wind, and is the patron goddess of a prominent island nation: Llymlaen, the goddess of oceans. Which would matter a lot more to island nations than rivers, which Thaliak commands.

Sharlayan worships Thaliak not because of the water aspect, but because of the knowledge aspect. Thavnair, as far as we know, does not have the same cultural context. So it would be odd for them to specifically worship Thaliak enough to construct an aetheryte in the nautilus shape.

I mostly agree, though I think they use the nautilus to represent knowledge that was poured into the rivers, or more specifically the river that runs through the Heaven of Water, so it does include the water aspect. However, this is extremely nitpicky! I think you’re right that this is definitely a Sharlayan outpost of some sort. My money is on a trade or diplomatic one, as it is located by the sea, and Thavnair represents the closest neutral nation that could have access to both Eorzea and Galemalds ports. With Eorzea having shut trade off after Gaius’ invasion 20 years ago, and Sharlayans desire to avoid even looking like they picked a side, Thavnair would be the only reasonable option for such a settlement.

However, for why we go there, perhaps we can infer the reason. In the trailer, Thavnair is shown being invaded much in the same way as Eorzea has been, leading to Estinien and Vritra’s intervention. However, for reasons unknown, the invasion seems to have stopped by the time Urianger and Thancred arrive and why they comment on the “respite afforded this land.”. This could be what brings us to Thavnair

The thing that connects what we’ve seen of both locations is that they appear somehow to be preventing, or in fact halting the final days in their respective territories, which is a plot point that I could see motivating us to travel abroad while Eorzea is under attack. And if the first location we go to, like Sharlayan, stonewalls us, it makes sense to look elsewhere for clues.

[Vyrerus]

Pretty sure Thavnair/Radz-at-han at large is probably built on top of something important to the past that the Sharlayans actually care about. It's tradition in Sharlayan to live on and witness and so on and so forth. I'm willing to wager something from ancient times is underneath Thavnair and Radz-at-han, and while Sharlayan probably took what they valued long ago, they value the area enough to give out a protective aethereyte to it as a show of good faith or memory of a bygone era.

I'm thinking we find out that the Sharlayans were interested in something there while being mostly shut out of what we're really after in Sharlayan, and we also learn of the protective feature inherent in that nautilus design. But as Urianger points out in the trailer, "The respite afforded this land was but fleeting."

Basically I have the feeling that Sharlayan knows what's about to go down, and they're a few steps ahead in their preparations. We'll be playing catch up for the first half of Endwalker, but by the second half we'll be leaving the Sharlayans in their bunker maybe, hopefully, after pimpsmacking Fourchenault... thoroughly. Several times. It's probably too much to ask for his head on a pike, isn't it?

I imagine trade routes for Radz-at-han will have mostly gone to crap, given the tower, and given the other bad stuff going on in the region that we don't know about yet. Will probably be the explanation for no marketboard. But who knows. Maybe we'll get surprised with double marketboard areas in Endwalker.