Tales from the Dawn

[RyuDragnier]

That's another thing. The story tells us the reasoning of Venat's faction in abstract, but it still keeps the details of the scenario super vague. Why was it a sure thing they'd never move forward? It makes it come across as mass-murder based on a vibe. Why not elaborate a bit?

They basically had the power of a god in their hands, allowing them to rewrite the rules of reality, bring back the dead, etc etc. Makes it so they don't need to worry about future problems, their god will solve all of it, so they get complacent and basically go "God will fix it" every time something comes up. There's no learning in such a world, nothing to strive for, and as we know the Amaurotine society was basically built on learning and striving to make the world a better place. Zodiark was ironically the thing that would destroy their very way of life just by existing.

[Lurina]

They basically had the power of a god in their hands, allowing them to rewrite the rules of reality, bring back the dead, etc etc. Makes it so they don't need to worry about future problems, their god will solve all of it, so they get complacent and basically go "God will fix it" every time something comes up. There's no learning in such a world, nothing to strive for, and as we know the Amaurotine society was basically built on learning and striving to make the world a better place. Zodiark was ironically the thing that would destroy their very way of life just by existing.

Okay, but again: Vibe-based mass murder. This is the story asking us to accept the Hydaelyn faction (assuming she did tell them what the Sundering was going to do) was okay with identity-deathing everyone on the planet and condemning the lives which would follow to millenia of hardship over what was essentially a cultural problem that is not explicitly defined as harming anyone. This makes them come across as bonkers ideologues, not heroes.

Like, imagine if in the real world, we discover some sort of technology - replicators or some junk, IDK - that makes us decadent and culturally stagnant. No one, or at least no one in their right mind, would say that an appropriate solution to this would be to nuke the planet and everyone on it back to the stone age. It's moon logic morality that the writers could have easily sidestepped.

[TheSuperior]

Okay, but again: Vibe-based mass murder. This is the story asking us to accept the Hydaelyn faction (assuming she did tell them what the Sundering was going to do) was okay with identity-deathing everyone on the planet and condemning the lives which would follow to millenia of hardship over what was essentially a cultural problem that is not explicitly defined as harming anyone. This makes them come across as bonkers ideologues, not heroes.

Like, imagine if in the real world, we discover some sort of technology - replicators or some junk, IDK - that makes us decadent and culturally stagnant. No one, or at least no one in their right mind, would say that an appropriate solution to this would be to nuke the planet and everyone on it back to the stone age. It's moon logic morality that the writers could have easily sidestepped.

That technology is called the internet and everything that makes up McDonalds and I fully support the total annihilation of one of them.

[Brinne]

Okay, but again: Vibe-based mass murder. This is the story asking us to accept the Hydaelyn faction (assuming she did tell them what the Sundering was going to do) was okay with identity-deathing everyone on the planet and condemning the lives which would follow to millenia of hardship over what was essentially a cultural problem that is not explicitly defined as harming anyone. This makes them come across as bonkers ideologues, not heroes.

Listen, Lurina, if my personal belief in a hypothetical about human behavior that hasn't come to pass yet, but I think probably will, isn't enough to warrant the unilateral eradication of an entire race of people, then what is, huh?

[Rulakir]

So, ultimately they stuck with the lore of the Anyder cutscene in ShB where they didn't know anything beyond the plan was to pacify Zodiark. Glad to have further confirmation to end that debate.

I still find it problematic their fervent pursuit of the future was at the cost of leaving the 75% who'd sacrificed themselves in indefinite purgatory. I suppose if the other 11 people were as enthralled with Venat as the Watcher was that'd explain a lot.

I was hoping for a Watcher focused short story for Venat, but this one was disappointing. I didn't realize at least 2/3 of it would be him going on endlessly about what a brilliant and perfect jewel she was.

[Lurina]

I was hoping for a Watcher focused short story for Venat, but this one was disappointing. I didn't realize at least 2/3 of it would be him going on endlessly about what a brilliant and perfect jewel she was.

Honestly, the Watcher basing his actions on being really horny rather than any sort of coherent ideology was probably the most reasonable part of the story.

[Iscah]

But while it is a very nice story, it's the absolute worst pick for an opener in my book. Given how much of Endwalker was about moving on from the past, freeing ourselves from its shackles and carving our own way into the future, we sure are spending an awful lot of stories stuck in that past.

"Tales From" is prettymuch always about going deeper into the specific expansion that has just wrapped up. I would be disappointed if we weren't going into Endwalker in more depth.

That said, I was expecting a narrative from the Watcher but I was hoping it would be a bit more substantial. It just has a lot of words without going much deeper into their motivations, and I continue to feel like the writers can't actually decide how the Sundering played out and are leaving it vague intentionally.

(I really hope they just don't reference back to the Sundering at all, going forward, and I can slot in my own imagined version of the narrative over the top.)

[Vyrerus]

Honestly, I didn't really pick up on anything new from this short story. Just some minor confirmations, and I guess confirmation that The Watcher was practically in love with Venat. Seduced by her de-masking. If it was Victorian England she just be showing her wrists and ankles on first meeting!

Looking forward to the other short stories more.

[Lyth]

They did confirm that the Convocation was in fact planning on harvesting souls during the third set of sacrifices to Zodiark, for those who were being deliberately obtuse about it previously. I don't think the 'withholding information' line of reasoning really works anymore, now that Abyssos is out. Unless you have a bone to pick with the Convocation as well.

[Alleo]

They did confirm that the Convocation was in fact planning on harvesting souls during the third set of sacrifices to Zodiark, for those who were being deliberately obtuse about it previously. I don't think the 'withholding information' line of reasoning really works anymore, now that Abyssos is out. Unless you have a bone to pick with the Convocation as well.

In the german version of it they wrote that more followers would be sacrificed so I guess this is the confirmation that it was people that they planned to use. (Which always made sense, especially since the Ancients have a huuuge amount of aether which would need to be replaced)

Interesting how old Venat already was when she got the position as Azem. I wonder if Ancients can decide how old they look? Because she still looked just as young in Elpis as she did in that story. Its great to see what she did on her adventures even though I cant see how that would be doable for centuries. But I guess that confirms that the world was way more chaotic than Emet believed it to be.