Preferences for a new world in 6.x, 7.x and beyond

[Kesey]

The void quest. That is all.

In all seriousness, I like the theory that however Hydaelyn/Zodiark is resolved, our new woes will be caused by more primals. Essentially, the reason Hydaelyn is so weak and hasn’t been able to help is bc she’s been enervating all the primals that keep getting summoned. Or dampening out abilities to summon. Whichever. And she will no longer be weakening them or stopping people from summoning so more primals and more powerful primals will be running amok and we’ll have to deal with that. Maybe like a microcosm of the final days where people’s abilities to summon end up causing them to summon their fears.

6.1 could very well start with the WOL being called to a meeting with Alphinaud to explore rumors of another primal being summoned somewhere and the new adventure begins in earnest.

[Veloran]

It's not left to interpretation - the Exarch's explanation of the process during ShB makes it pretty clear that when a Shard is rejoined, it's completely destroyed and it's aether returned to the Source; Alphinaud outright reacts with horror at the realization of what that means - that Shard's entire history, culture and the lives of every living thing that made up that world are completely obliterated and erased from existence when it's Rejoined. There is basically no doubt or interpretation of it, it means total death for that entire world, and countless deaths on the Source as well in the resulting Calamity that is needed to occur on the Source at the exact same time to ensure the Rejoining actually works.

It happens that way due to the Ascians's methodology, and they do it like that because there needs to be an overaspecting of elements aligning the two worlds so they draw together, and a massive conflux of aether in order to crack the dimensional barrier dividing the Source and shards. If Hydaelyn was removed from the equation and the barrier fell, then free travel between the reflections could be possible and souls may simply rejoin of their own accord over time as people die and reincarnate.
Of course this would introduce numerous plot hooks for future expansions, the most obvious being that Voidsent could freely attack other shards now that the already-thin barrier dividing their world from the others is removed.

As an aside into the realm of wild theorization, I wonder if maybe Lahabrea's single-minded drive to see Hydaelyn weakened and destroyed could have been for this very purpose, for the possibility of rejoining without calamities.

[lezard21]

I disagree with all the people that say we should get some down to earth slice of life exploration and adventuring expansion. Escalation is what makes a narrative compelling. There is a reason why Peter Jackson did not adapt Frodo's trip back to the Shire in Return of the Kings. It's ok to give the story some breathing room but kill the momentum and you will lose people's interest (which is what happened to a lot of people with ASoIaF post book 4).

Personally I'd like it if post 6.x takes us to the Thirteenth shard in an attempt to restore it because I don't like the people of the Source. That's where Lolorito and Asahi hail from.

Jokes aside, I think it would be a fitting point to go forward, kinda like how in "Overly Cautious Hero" after saving the S-Difficulty World that was almost overtaken by the Demon Lord, the protagonists have to go save the SS-Difficulty World in which the Demon Lord had already long won.

Plus I think the Void and the Voidsent would lend themselves for interesting visuals as a world.

The seeds for this have kinda been planted with the ending of the Role Quests in ShB.

[KageTokage]

I don't think things realistically can escalate past an "end of the world" scenario.

I don't doubt there will still be stakes in the future, but they will more likely concern the fate of a country/nation as opposed to the world (Which in hindsight, was basically the nature of every MSQ prior to Shadowbringers) unless we end up visiting more of the shards in the future.

[Cilia]

I'm honestly fine with anything.

My only concern is that after the literal apocalypse, it's going to be difficult to scale things back. WoW tried to do that from Legion (fighting the literal legions of Hell and going to their home turf to wipe them out for good) to Battle for Azeroth (faction conflict with various bad actors pulling the strings), and the outcome was... mixed, to put it lightly. It can be done, but it has to be handled well.

[Vyrerus]

It's all part of their 'great work'.

But it's not total death. Just one death in a potentially endless cycle of deaths. Those that die with the shards on Rejoinings are stitched back together with their Source counterpart. As evidenced by G'raha Tia's denser soul, and our own denser soul.

The soul lives on beyond death in this world. It reconstitutes in a different body, at least as things stand. The moral relativistic stance that Hades has takes this into account. The deaths don't matter to the Ascians, because in their eyes they are temporary and part of the long process to make the world and everyone on it whole again.

Think of every doppelgänger movie you've ever seen. Whether the double be an evil twin, clone, look-alike etc. They all have the same trope in common. The double wants to/could/does take the place of the original.

To the Ascians, every shard person, and the current Source people, are "vain reflections" or doppelgängers. The Sundered each have a piece of their old friends and family, but perceive their transitory lives that they won't even remember come their next cycle as greater in value to the near immortal life of their original selves(except the based Dotharl).

It's easy to call the Ascians demons from our perspective, murderous as they have been. If you look at it through the eyes of the Ascians though, you surely understand their pain. They can perceive who of the Sundered have their old friends and families' soul pieces. They can see that the Sundered don't remember. The histories the Sundered go onto build are ultimately lies lived through by perverse short lived people, who don't even realize that they are a maimed and wretched existence down to the level of their soul. Even if they weren't given to war, other mundane menaces that the Ancient world had long ago cast as dust unto wind causes these Sundered to die, so that they can die again.

To the Ascians, looking onto the Sundered is much like Emet-selch looking onto that first Phoenix, as it writhed. Only they see the essence of those they once loved, those that they promised to restore, shelter, and save.

In this sense, the Rejoinings are a mercy that remove more deaths from the world than they cause, in the long term.

Think of it this way. The Sundering took the remaining population of the entire planet, killed them(or so drastically cut their lifespan that they died relatively shortly after), and split them into 14 different physical realms tied together by the same spiritual string. It made the suffering unending, and also split the souls not yet bound to physical life. All life since dies more frequently, sooner, easier, and in far larger numbers. A Rejoining is 1/14th the same, though at its end, it diminishes further pain.

[ReynTime]

I'm always wondering why that of all things is the one 1.0 thing that a bunch of lorehounds keep hanging onto and bringing up. Why is everyone so hung up on the lake of all things? Why aren't we beating the Gelmorra drum, or constantly speculating about the Woodsin?

Because Silvertear having more importance than it does now was always hinted. And sometimes still is.
Midgardsormr was protecting something in it. The opening cinematic showed primals coming out of it specifically (though as we know the origin of the primals was retconned eventually). Silvertear's equivalent in The First is called "The Source". There is an extensive dialog from an NPC in the Goldsmith guild talking about the location. The very sinister and mysterious atmosphere of the region in 1.0 also hinted there was supposed to be more to it.

[Veloran]

The Endwalker site updated today, and the tinfoil in my hat is looking shiny.

[KageTokage]

I'm half-expecting Pandemonium to be beneath the former imperial palace/central tower as a nod to its location in FF II, coupled with the fact the towers all seem to extend extremely deep into the earth judging from the Tower of Zot, and likely even moreso in the case of the central tower.

Considering that the Ancients had already captured some terminus beasts like Twintania, I'm thinking they shoved some particularly nasty ones down there (Which would make even more sense when considering that Lahabrea was responsible for the department that was dealing with them).

[RyuDragnier]

I'm honestly fine with anything.

My only concern is that after the literal apocalypse, it's going to be difficult to scale things back. WoW tried to do that from Legion (fighting the literal legions of Hell and going to their home turf to wipe them out for good) to Battle for Azeroth (faction conflict with various bad actors pulling the strings), and the outcome was... mixed, to put it lightly. It can be done, but it has to be handled well.

I'm hoping they go for more Heavensward or Save the Queen type of stakes. HW we were depowered for a lot of it so everything felt heavier, a lot more uncertain. Save the Queen, we were a single super powered soldier on a battlefield full of hundreds/thousands of other soldiers. We could only do so much, so there was always a chance we couldn't win. Both cases, the stakes were still high, because we were no longer a guaranteed victory machine, more of the equivalent of an Ace in Mobile Suit Gundam. We can turn the tide, but only so much.

I'm half-expecting Pandemonium to be beneath the former imperial palace/central tower as a nod to its location in FF II, coupled with the fact the towers all seem to extend extremely deep into the earth judging from the Tower of Zot, and likely even moreso in the case of the central tower.

Considering that the Ancients had already captured some terminus beasts like Twintania, I'm thinking they shoved some particularly nasty ones down there (Which would make even more sense when considering that Lahabrea was responsible for the department that was dealing with them).

Really hoping that Varis shows up in some part, as a nod to FF2, and giving him an actual proper storyline.