Why was Sharlayan abandoned?

[Jirah]

With all their divinity they thought it best to lead a exodus away from the idylshire colony rather than bend at the knee for the empire.

They are hyper neutral to conflict and looking forward to see what’s up with that

[Iscah]

Finally, and most importantly to me, they allowed people to remain behind in the evacuation if they wished to.

That's the strangest part, if anything. They were on the verge of making contact with Hydaelyn Herself – a phenomenal achievement – and not a single scholar opted to stay behind and complete that research instead of fleeing? Or return at the first possible opportunity once the Garleans had been driven back?

[GoldStarz]

That's the strangest part, if anything. They were on the verge of making contact with Hydaelyn Herself – a phenomenal achievement – and not a single scholar opted to stay behind and complete that research instead of fleeing? Or return at the first possible opportunity once the Garleans had been driven back?

The Garleans weren't driven back until at least the calamity, arguably not even until ARR or SB. Keep in mind that it wasn't the invasion of Eorzea that set them on guard but the capture of Ala Mhigo/Gyr Abania. Also, we don't have any information on how many chose to stay behind, all we know is that at least Matoya did.

I don't think it's too strange that most people would chose their immediate safety over the Antitower, especially since given the breadth of Sharlayan's fields of studies I doubt the majority of people there were aetherologists.

[Iscah]

Also, we don't have any information on how many chose to stay behind, all we know is that at least Matoya did.

Actually we do, from the quote Moose posted earlier, which describes Matoya as "the lone individual who chose to remain behind".

I don't think it's too strange that most people would chose their immediate safety over the Antitower, especially since given the breadth of Sharlayan's fields of studies I doubt the majority of people there were aetherologists.

Most people, certainly. But I find it potentially suspicious that not a single person involved in the project would want to stay and work on it as long as they could, even if the overall colony was evacuated.