Why was Sharlayan abandoned?

[Wilford111]

I've been going through New Game+ to brush up on lore that I've forgotten, and just arrived at the Dravanian Hinterlands. Now, I thought I remember reading that Sharlayan was abandoned because the Garlian empire had invaded it, but they're not here whatsoever. If the empire didn't take it over, then why did the Sharlayans leave? Did I miss something?

[Lihtleita]

once the garlean empire tried to invade eorzea (battle of silvertear skies + the fall of ala mhigo) they got scared and ran

edit: i know they did this to preserve "neutrality" but i still think theyre cowards

[Anonymoose]

From the EE1

The Dravanian hinterlands attracted students from all across Eorzea, and grew as a beacon of knowledge and wisdom. Yet this was not to last. In 1557, tidings that Garlemald had captured Ala Mhigo reached the city. To the Sharlayans, the Empire was a threat to their very way of life. They had spent an age stubbornly resisting all war, and the imperial invasion of Ilsabard and Othard was a bane to the values they had held since Nyunkrepf's time. Sharlayan sent ambassadors to Garlemald with entreaties to stop their advance. They even strove mightily to parlay a peace, but all these pleas fell on deaf ears, and the envoys returned home empty-handed.

In the wake of the failed negotiation, Fourchenault Leveilleur and the faction he led within the Forum elected to forsake their colony. Following five years of elaborate and painstaking preparation, the plan to evacuate the settlement's entire population to the northern archipelago of their homeland was put into motion. In 1562, the city of Sharlayan became a maze of empty streets and buildings in the space of a single evening.

[Kesey]

I wouldn't be surprised if there was a "hidden motive" to abandoning the colony that isn't revealed until Endwalker.

[Iscah]

I wouldn't be surprised if there was a "hidden motive" to abandoning the colony that isn't revealed until Endwalker.

I'm fully expecting it – and wondering whether it has anything to do with the Antitower and what they found by burrowing into the aetherial sea.

The whole thing seems way too important to discover and then just abandon.

[Kesey]

I'm fully expecting it – and wondering whether it has anything to do with the Antitower and what they found by burrowing into the aetherial sea.

The whole thing seems way too important to discover and then just abandon.

Agreed. Even if this is a retcon, it still comes out smelling sus.

[Anonymoose]

The Antitower was constructed after finding deep subterranean tunnels (circa 1311) that seemed ideal for studying the aetherial sea. During the 1562 exodus, some had planned to destroy it on the way out but, as it was so valuable, they ultimately decided to lock it behind a ton of wards instead. After all, if you've been using it as a research observatory for over 200 years, how long could it possibly take - relatively speaking - for a war to wrap up? If y'all end up speaking some "Venat left the Mothercrystal if 1320 and has been hanging out in Sharlayan ever since" into existence... <shakes fist>

[Vyrerus]

The Antitower was constructed after finding deep subterranean tunnels (circa 1311) that seemed ideal for studying the aetherial sea. During the 1562 exodus, they had planned to destroy it on the way out but, as it was so valuable, they ultimately decided to lock it behind a ton of wards instead. After all, if you've been using it as a research observatory for over 200 years, how long could it possibly take - relatively speaking - for a war to wrap up? If y'all end up speaking some "Venat left the Mothercrystal if 1320 and has been hanging out in Sharlayan ever since" into existence... <shakes fist>

Left the Mothercrystal in 1320 and immediately put into Sharlayan Shackles, more like. I swear, I stand by my inclination that she's chained up in the basement of Old Sharlayan.

[Cleretic]

once the garlean empire tried to invade eorzea (battle of silvertear skies + the fall of ala mhigo) they got scared and ran

edit: i know they did this to preserve "neutrality" but i still think theyre cowards

I'm someone who really like a 'no hidden motives, just raw politics' angle every so often (especially in a setting where sometimes things are secretly weirder than that, it's nice to get confirmation it doesn't always turn out that way), so I honestly really want to just find out that it turns out that Sharlayan are just cowards who 'remain neutral' by running away from conflict.

[Iscah]

The Antitower was constructed after finding deep subterranean tunnels (circa 1311) that seemed ideal for studying the aetherial sea. During the 1562 exodus, they had planned to destroy it on the way out but, as it was so valuable, they ultimately decided to lock it behind a ton of wards instead. After all, if you've been using it as a research observatory for over 200 years, how long could it possibly take - relatively speaking - for a war to wrap up? If y'all end up speaking some "Venat left the Mothercrystal if 1320 and has been hanging out in Sharlayan ever since" into existence... <shakes fist>

I'd missed the given date for the establishing of the colony (from the history page) but was looking at the description of the aetherial sea on page 11 – saying that the tower was built, allowing them to open a window to the aetherial realm and "direct contact with the Mothercrystal was the next step in Sharlayan's research before the scholars were forced to flee Eorzea" following the Garlean invasion. That's ambiguous whether they made contact or were just looking into how to do it, but in any case it sounded like a more recent project than "ongoing since 1311".

Where are you getting the exact details that they found tunnels there and that they planned to destroy it on the way out? I can't see that noted in the lorebook.

Also, the whole Sharlayan history sounds fishy to me. Nyunkrepf's ark set out from the northern islands, accidentally teleported to Gyr Abania, and instead of staying in the new location they made the massive journey back to where they started from to establish a new home for themselves.

Maybe I'm reading too much into it, but there's certainly room for something strange and ancient to be going on with this.