Quote Originally Posted by Necrotica View Post
After the sundering no one had any memories. Did they just start out as cavemen having to rediscover fire and all that?

The First seemed to have the same level of technology as most of Eorzea. But time worked differently there except when it didn't. And they were a post apocalyptic fantasy setting so it is possible they lost a lot of tech.

If Hydaelyn could specifically decide what people remembered and what they forgot, then her power is way way way way stronger and precise than we give her credit for. At which point why even sunder people? Why not just reprogram their memories with what you want?

This is why I think that post sundering, everyone was for all intents and purposes, a caveman. Hydaelyn then could have taught them via visions and what not the level of tech she believed they were worthy of having and cement her position as a goddess and explain why everyone knows about her and worships her.
Well we did learn about the whole thing from actual paintings on a cave wall done just after the Sundering.

While we don't know much of anything of the First Umbral Era, according to the Encyclopedia Eorzea, the First Astral Era was marked by the invention of stone tools and the migration to farming and agriculture over hunting and gathering so it seems that the Post-Sundering world was indeed cavemen.

One thing though on your last sentence, almost no one in the world knows Hydaelyn as a "goddess" actually exists, let alone worships her. Eorzea worships the Twelve to varying degrees, and Hydaelyn has no role in that. The only people who seem to know she exists are Ascians, Echo bearers, some people in Sharlayan, Midgardsormr, and those who those groups have told.