Ronkan Deities and their Roles

[OcelotlYeiyollotl]

So, as a Ronka enthusiast, I have been compiling as much lore of Rak'tika as I can, but especially that of Fanow and the ruins the Viis protect. We know that Ox'Gatorl is the keeper of flames, Ox'Charl is the keeper of winds, Yx'Lokwa is the bringer of rain, and Yx'Anpa is the bringer of harvests. However, there are multiple mentions of two other deities, Ox'Dalan (seen in such places as the Ox'Dalan Gap zone of Rak'tika) and Yx'Maja (like the Blind Forest of Yx'Maja, and apparently also the Fanow local deity), for whom no roles are mentioned. Has anyone out there done more thorough a job of researching this than me, and perhaps caught something I missed as to who these deities were to the Ronkans, or if they even have roles stated in lore?

Additionally, feel free to drop any lore you know concerning Ronka or Rak'tika in general. I'll be taking notes.

[Vyrerus]

Well, the actual Ronka is a city from Final Fantasy V that harnessed the power of the Earth Crystal, and used it to create a wildly advanced, world spanning civilization. The crown jewel of their civilization was a floating city, with missile launchers and laser cannons. They lowered it to the ground and buried it beyond the desert in order to safeguard the Earth Crystal, because they found out that their technology was draining the crystal and would cause it to shatter. They set a flying serpent to guard the Earth Crystal, and it was intertwined with the Crystal in such a way that it would revive instantly upon death, if it could be defeated.

As far as FFXIV goes, it's fairly clear that they deliver a Mesoamerica cultural reference to the whole of the Rak'tika Greatwood and the Ronkan Civilization. Yx'Maya may be an overall reference to the fact they reference Mayan mythology in the area. It may also be an offhand reference to Xtabay, a Mayan demon, said to live in the forests of the Yucatan Peninsula. Xtabay was a beautiful woman with dark flowing hair down to her feet, wearing a long white dress. She would lure people into her forest, and then copulate with them. After that, she would kill them.

Prior to being a demon, she had been a celibate woman, Utz-Colel. Utz-Colel grew prideful over her purity, and when she died, she turned into a foul smelling cactus flower because of it. She had been in a direct rivalry with another beautiful woman in her village, Xkeban. Xkeban was promiscuous, and was thus treated poorly by most people in the village. Yet, she was kind and generous for her whole life, and when she died her corpse smelled sweetly and turned into a sweet smelling flower. Ever jealous of Xkeban, Utz-Colel prayed to become human once more that she might redeem herself and become beautiful but she had prayed to evil spirits and instead became the predatory demon, Xtabay. She sought to emulate Xkeban's behavior, but could only hunt and kill for she was mired by her envious rage.

[OcelotlYeiyollotl]

Oh see, THIS is what I like to see. Let's draw some parallels, we'll be going nowhere fast if we don't with how little lore touches on this.

From what I could tell, Yx'Lokwa is roughly equivalent to Chaac/Tlaloc (I've seen both Mayan and Aztec influence in the area so I'm not sure which would be more accurate to name), but this doesn't quite fit with the fact that the "Yx" deities are referred to as female, and the "Ox" ones, male, and Chac/Tlaloc is a god, not a goddess. Chac Xiutei/Xiuhtecuhtli seems to be the inspiration for Ox'Gatorl, Ox'Charl may be based on Huracan or Quetzalcoatl or Ehecatl or... they sure had a lot of wind deities, didn't they...? And let's not even start with Yx'Anpa. I did a bit of research and there seems to be a *ton* of earth goddesses in the Mesoamerican mythos.

Looking further, when we consider the names of bosses and other enemies in the area, we find that the influences are not *just* Mesoamerican, but some Andean civilizations as well. Take Huaca, for example, the odd centaur(?) we encounter in an instance battle that gives us several riddles before we have to fight it anyway. A 'huaca' is a monument or otherwise revered landmark/object, but this was a term not found in the Nahua languages, because it's Quechua (Incan). And when we take into account the fact that it's not *only* Mesoamerican societies they drew on for this, but Andean as well, it becomes a subject that requires almost too much time to look into for what is effectively the smallest tidbit of lore possible.

[WhiteArchmage]

I think that's a case of Mayincatec, the trope of combining aspects from several Pre-Columbian cultures into a singular fantasy counterpart culture. So FFXIV-Ronka is likely a mishmash of different Pre-Hispanic Cultures in Latin America. Though the weather of Ronka looks closer to the Yucatán Jungle climate (maybe, I'm don't remember the climate in Central México being like that, but Rak'Tika is certainly landlocked like then-Teotihuacán instead of the Yucatán Peninsula).

The Ox and Yx may not be male and female but "keeper" and "bringer" respectively, seeing that both the Ox'X deitites are "keeper of" while Yx are "bringer of". Or they could be both and I'm overthinking it... is there an Encyclopedia Norvrandt coming up?

(Maybe a side-note, but a "huacal" here in México is a wooden box made of criss-crossed wood usually for transporting fruits and vegetables, idk the etymology of the word to know if it's relevant)

[Kesey]

As the First and Source are mirror worlds that developed differently, Ronka can be seen as the First's equivalent of the Allagan empire.

If you remember the MSQ has you explore caves with Y'shtola, north west of Slighterbough and there you see three paintings of histroy. The first is an event that happens before the Ronka, hasn't been solved, but best speculation it either represents Hydaelyn being summoned or Azem, post-sunder, bringing his friends together to save the world, then the formation of Ronka, then Ardbert and company fighting the Shadowkeeper.

The source's story is much the same, Hydaelyn is summoned/Azem, post-sunder helps the people of the world, Allagan empire happens, then current time with the WOL trying to save the day.

[Zero-ELEC]

Hi, I know this is an older topic, but I wanted to contribute to have things in one place; Yx'Maja is stated to be the goddess of beauty and hunt [Side quest: "Blessings of the Wood"], and it is said Yx'Maja guided the Viis to the forest,[Quitari tribe quest: "Delving Deeper"] by appearing before the emperor of Ronka in a dream to instruct him to allow them to stay as part of his empire.[Unlock side quest: "Seeing Eye to Eye"] It is also said that Yx'Maja and Ox'Dalan shared a bond, not unlike the Viis and the Qitari, mirroring their respective guardian deities.[Qitari tribe quest: "A Chilling Fate"]

Ox'dalan for their part was is the Qitari patron deity, whose worship rituals were similar to the Viis' worship of Yx'Maja.[Quitari tribe quest: "Delving Deeper"] It is unclear to me of what they were a deity of, however.

We truly need an "Encyclopedia Novrandt"

EDIT: Additionally, Ox'Charl would be worshipped with songs by the Ronkan people,[Quitary tribe quest: "Rock 'n Ronka"], a flower, known as Tears of Yx'Lokwa, is said to be blessed by the selfsame deity, and used in prayers[Side quest: "Thoughts and Prayers"].