Something I don't quite understand about the final area (spoilers)

[Kaliesto]

Now the civilizations are recreations, but does include most of these self-aware beings?

Considering there is going to be a beast tribe quest later that I'm even more confused because they're not technically real?

Like its not the original souls, but just copies within their limited space or I'm I misunderstanding something?

[Cleretic]

I think it's real souls. The main evidence here is Stigma-1, who by all appearances seems to be the same one. It might be something explained in the Omicron tribe questline.

But it also might not matter, really. What matters is that they're there and real; does their origin point truly change anything? Especially with the Omicrons, who made new bodies out of local materials anyway, so being made of different matter doesn't really factor into whether or not they're 'true' Omicrons.

[EaraGrace]

Meteions plan involved gathering the souls of dead worlds and placing them in that stars husk in Ultima Thule to prevent their rebirth, so I’d say they’re the real thing.

[KageTokage]

I feel like the Omicron dailies coming in 6.2 are liable to elaborate more on the nature of the beings there.

Their technology is evidently advanced enough to create things are "alive" enough to receive souls judging from Alpha; though at the same time, he's still artificial enough to count as an inanimate object for teleportation purposes which is...strange.

Perhaps the races they recreate will have a second chance to pursue a brighter future.

[Lyth]

The Vista Record for Stigma-1 states that it was faithfully reconstructed in Ostrakon Deka-hexi (Alphatron), and all the other Vista Records state that the civilizations there are recreated. Likewise, N-7000 talks about analyzing data emitted from the dead star 'to recreate remnants of lost civilizations from the depths of Meteion's memories'. It could be a case similar to Hythloadaeus in Emet's recreated Amaurot, where you have entities that were created as a sort of living memory, but they gradually gain self-awareness over time.

It looks like it'll be a very interesting tribal quest line, especially if they explain what happened to the Nekropolis at Ostrakon Hena.

[Iscah]

Apparently the initial dynamis-based construction of the realm has been replaced with aether now, which may have influenced the state of the recreated beings as well.

[Lustre]

Probably some plot-macguffin holding the logic in place.

[Cilia]

To my memory, the beings we encounter in Ultima Thule are indeed not living, breathing creatures - more like shades of the dead in the vein of Emet-Selch's recreation of Amaurot, albeit dyanmis-based rather than aether-based.

Ultima Thule still hangs around because the Scions were able to overcome a measure of Meteion's despair that would have left it an uninhabitable void before the Dead Ends dungeon. Without her constantly trying to crush Ultima Thule into nothingness, her and the shades' renewed hope is able to keep it perceptible and traversable despite being mostly dynamis.

[CrownySuccubus]

I think this is kind of the same question as the "teleporter paradox". If someone enters a teleporter, disappears from Point A and then reappears at Point B, how do you prove that this is the same person and disprove that the original wasn't simply destroyed at Point A and an exact copy made at Point B?

The "originals" of these beings died a long time ago, and Meteion basically used their dynamis to recreate copies of them. Whether this makes them the originals, reborn in a new form, or merely copies made from very thorough "data", is probably a matter of perspective.

[VigilanteXII]

I think this is kind of the same question as the "teleporter paradox". If someone enters a teleporter, disappears from Point A and then reappears at Point B, how do you prove that this is the same person and disprove that the original wasn't simply destroyed at Point A and an exact copy made at Point B?

In FFXIV a unique being is usually defined by its soul. So bodies and memories may change, but if its the same soul it's usually considered the same being (see Hermes for example, who went through quite a few rebirths and lives but is still considered the same being all the way through). If I recall correctly Meteion does mention at some point that she's been gathering up the souls of those destroyed worlds to prevent their rebirth somewhere else, so I think it's highly likely that she's been using those souls as well as their lingering memories (which haven't been wiped by the.. life stream or whatever yet) to recreate those beings in Thule. As a matter of fact I believe those souls and their incessant wallowing were essentially her power source.

So I think everyone we encounter on Thule are the real and original inhabitants of those planets, just with fake bodies.