[Wishlisting/Speculation] A historian weighs in: the New World

[Parua]

Since I played a LOT of FFXIV during grad school I figure it's only fitting that I have ideas, and speculation regarding the New World as a historian of Indigenous history and the American West/Borderlands. This is going to be long and I'll try to break it out under subheadings where appropriate...

The land itself...

What we know about the New World is it bears resemblance to the American West from Canada through Mexico. There are two known races there, the Whalaqee (Hyur tribe) and the Mamool Ja (angry stab-lizards). The former, the Whalaqee, are represented in various ways as analogous to American Indigenous people with elements of animism (ceruleum worship in this case) and a history of trader-spawned disease. The latter, the Mamool Ja, are a cultural mishmash of somewhat cosmopolitan beastmen who are sophisticated and curious about the world around them.

The Lapis Canyon that is revered by the Whalaqee suggests that our first encounter with the New World will involve something akin to both the myth of El Dorado (and other legendary cities) and the historic mountain Potosi in what is now Bolivia which was said to be made entirely of silver and which became the dominant source of silver in the "old" world for decades when Spain created a mint there. The local animist beliefs about the mountain managed to persist through to the modern era, in spite of Spanish attempts at squashing it.

We also have a good idea of the kind of access there is to the continent, as Ketenramm the Blue, who "discovered" the land anew after centuries, has a journey akin to exploration of the rim of the Gulf of Mexico. We know this is the reference because New World "fashion" is styled after, well, okay, it's styled after my family's tribe, the Comanche Nation, and other tribes of the American Great Plains, which stretches from Canada down into Mexico. The Comanche were known for skill in battle and mastery of new battle techniques that allowed us to spread all over the Great Plains: steel plate, horses, guns, etc.. Ketenramm manages to parlay with the Mamool Ja and learns of the reciprocity of gift-giving. In this way we can say that the Whalaqee represent the less-understood tribes of the West while Ketenramm, an amalgamation of Era of Exploration sailors and Erik the Red, has contact reminiscent of the Norse in the 11th Century A.D., so we can safely imagine the Mamool Ja to be roughly based culturally on more eastern tribes and those of the Maritime in Canada--something like the Beothuk or Dorset Culture.

The People...

We already touched upon the people at length above so I won't belabor my understandings and theories. I am certain that with the New World expansion there will be an additional class of Hyur available to people (and not a Mamool Ja race like folks have always asked for) and I think that they will be integral to mainstreaming the Blue Mage as a Ranged DPS versus a somewhat boutique class.

(cont...)

[Parua]

(part 2...)

Now I want to touch upon a lore wrinkle that complicates analogies and explain how they may untangle. The Ixal. A 100% clear reference to Meso-American tribes, they even have a mystic long lost land called Ayatalan (which is Azys Lla), a floating continent now harvested from root to leaf for an old old old Allagan ruin. Mirroring the Mexica people, the Ixal are an insular, somewhat xenophobic tribe that is focused on war and expansion. Since the lore team is not one to leave things completely on the table, I expect that their connection to the New World will be made clear, and by that I believe we will see that Azys Lla was actually moved and it appears other Sea of Clouds locales were similarly shifted. This is apparent in numerous places where larger, solid tracts of floating island are sometimes broken up in a way that suggests they were moved, with trailing stones heading off in roughly the same direction like a trail/leak while dragging something across the floor, plus it's suggested that post-ascension Bismarck regularly rearranged islands, not just ate them.

In other words, I believe that the Ixal and Vanu Vanu will appear in the New World, with both being archipelagic, the Vanu Vanu to the far west edge and the Vanu Vanu deep in the South.

Sidenote: the Mexica/Aztec speak a language called Nahuatl that is part of the "uto-aztecan" language family, which includes tribes like the Shoshoni and Paiute but also my own tribe, the Comanche Nation.


In Comanche, it's inappropriate to make avaricious remarks about someone else's things, like "oh I LOVE your shoes," because need is seen as paramount over wants, and therefore someone coveting your shoes is someone who probably needs it and, well, yeah, we give you our shoes. In-tribe it's not abused because people lived within their means. So a gift giving culture would almost certainly be happy to give warriors/fighters of renown something like a warbonnet.

I can't see any of the known New World tribes doing any different, nor the ones I speculated were part of the New World and its relative sphere. What that means for worldbuilding however is a tough one since the game admits that want and desire play into gear selection (hence need/greed/pass) and numerous aspects of the Era of Exploration include deliberate theft.

[Parua]

(part 3...) Story ideas...?

Ixal Route: If my analogy of the Ixal to the Mexica/Aztec is correct (don't look it up, it is correct), then perhaps the extension of their story includes the legendary return to Aztlan, a fabled act of returning to their birthplace to reclaim it. Just like plate tectonics has a South Africa-shaped coast in Africa (and vice versa), it's not impossible to believe that the Ixal were exiled (say that three times fast) at the arrival of the Allagans to Azys Lla and their floating continent broken up and moved for the purposes of building Azys Lla.

Now remember, the Ixal are "technically" chimerae (or, perhaps chimeroi) but that they do have a distinct and estimable antecedent in the Ixalons or whatever someone corrects me with in the comments because I don't have that written down on any of my lore cards. Anyway, this suggests that the source creatures and habitat pre-evolution was their floating continent. Primitive birdmen being twisted by experiments until they become the war-like Ixal. Notably, the myth of Aztlan incorporates an origin place with seven caves. There are certainly *at least* seven facilities that must have been used to evolve them in Azys Lla. The Ixal, then, are striving for a pre-modern utopia akin to their own garden of eden, their Aztlan.

Do we help them rebuild Ayatalan? Do we manage to restart the Flagship and return the continent to the New World? Are we now on good terms with Garuda?

Mamool Ja Route: An obvious path in lore is exploring the Mamool Ja. As a fairly well-established race in relation to their presence in Eorzea, their willingness to explore the land of the explorers is a natural fit. Their existence as discrete tribal bands that have autonomy except under the four leaders means that like the Gnath/Vath there will be internecine battles that are integral to the story.

Do we end up helping one band over the others? Do we create settlements in close affiliation with one band or another? What is their own relation to the Ceruleum in Lapis Canyon?

Whalaqee Route: my fave because it's an allusion to plains and woodlands tribes. Their social structure and culture aren't fully explored and so it will fall to us to flesh that out, but how? Where are the Whalaqee situated in our goals on the New World?

I'd like to see the ability to choose Whalaqee as your race/clan when creating a hyur. Perhaps their height range is narrower and perhaps they are either stronger or weaker or have better magic. Perhaps this questline will appear in the New World to bring the Blue Mage into the regular lineup after quests at, say, lvl 90?

[Parua]

(part 4/end): Roegadyn Route: Since we know that the Roe are essentially Scandinavian/vikings and they have contacted with the new world, it makes sense that on our way to the New World we stop in Aersleant and get a more full picture of Roe history and lore. As Iceland is a land of fire and ice and the Roe are inspired by the Jotun (Norse giants) it is clear they will have some kind of reciprocative relationship between their two branches, the Hellsguard and Sea Wolves.

The myth of Ketenramm the Blue suggests we will already have some kind of in with them, even though the lack of Roe children makes it hard to say whether or not there was intermarriage between Roes and other races so it's unlikely we will see native Roes who have been Indigenized through successive generations of intermarriage. Still, exploring Ketenramm's settlements/camps would be fun.

Other Races: With the Vanu Vanu representing polynesian culture, specifically the Maori, it's possible they will figure to a large extent like they did during Heavensward, although perhaps it will be in a secluded, foreboding tribal land. Additionally, the Vanu Vanu *really* *REALLY* needs help to have more of their tech explored. As it stands, we don't know whether or not the Vanu Vanu are good sailors on sea OR sky and clarification would be awesome.

Other unanswered questions include:
-Are there Miqot'e in the New World?
-What diseases spread by explorers and how long did they spread?
-Emet-Selch mentions cities of gold--what's THAT about?
-Are their major ruins a la Belah'dia?

Anyway, these are my theories, speculation, and what I would love to see at least in part!

Udah haitsinuu

[Kesey]

This is an interesting read.

Unfortunately, Azys Lla was pulled up from "The Burn" which was apart of Islabard, confirmed in the Stormblood expansion.

And the Ixal are an Allagan creation as was confirmed in a Heavensward dungeon.

I would also expect there to exist a coastal settlement that is more like a colonial town with a "frontier" aesthetic where people from Eorzea have settled to explore and begin to trade things from the New World as well.

[Wyssahtyn]

"I am certain that with the New World expansion there will be an additional class of Hyur available to people"

They didn't bother with making Far Eastern Roegadyn a la Gosetsu and instead reused Hellsguard models, what makes you think they'll suddenly make another clan for a single race this far in, lmao. They're just going to reuse Midlander/Highlander models as they see fit and slap a New World Hyur tag on them in a lore book. Wouldn't even be surprised if they end up having player-inaccessible color palettes too.

"I think that they will be integral to mainstreaming the Blue Mage as a Ranged DPS"

The likelihood of this is infinitesimal at best. And would require the devs backpedaling on their previous statements of being satisfied with blue mage being side content. Which to my knowledge have not changed.

"(don't look it up, it is correct)"

there is no better way of getting people to lose interest in what you have to say than to go "just trust me bro"

[Kesey]

(part 4/end): -Emet-Selch mentions cities of gold--what's THAT about?
-Are their major ruins a la Belah'dia?

Udah haitsinuu

To add some thoughts to this. When they say cities of gold, we can have numerous interpretations. A literal one says the city is made of gold. Another is a metaphor. Example: the streets of heaven are paved in gold; but heaven can't literally be paved in gold. It's probably shiny like gold because it's heaven and bathed in light. Or lastly, it's misunderstood by those that discovered it. We see this a lot in speculative fiction. An uneducated person with limited understanding of technology/magic would see the technology/magic in use and misclassify what they see.

Taking the last one as the most likely path for game's story as this creates a mystery to uncover, the city of gold could be tied to an unknown civilization, maybe one that was old enough to battle the Allagans (We know that nations can date back to the Allagan just like Mercydia or Bozja) or we could go even further back in time and speculate that the city of gold housed a civilization that was around in the time of the Ancients, possibly a sister city to Amaurot or another government/civilization independent of the Ancients.

[Parua]

"(don't look it up, it is correct)"

there is no better way of getting people to lose interest in what you have to say than to go "just trust me bro"

Well, it's explained pretty clearly upthread. If you haven't studied the history of the new world the lore might just seem 100% original to you, which I do understand well enough, so don't feel bad for thinking I was being glib there.

KeseyUnfortunately, Azys Lla was pulled up from "The Burn" which was apart of Islabard, confirmed in the Stormblood expansion.

And the Ixal are an Allagan creation as was confirmed in a Heavensward dungeon.

I would also expect there to exist a coastal settlement that is more like a colonial town with a "frontier" aesthetic where people from Eorzea have settled to explore and begin to trade things from the New World as well.

Discourse! Gaming forums can and do surprise, so thank you for correcting the lore here.

I do feel like there's got to be more to the dev angle on the new world, just like how the appearance of the "optimates" and "populares" should have tipped people off to the direction of the game's story and the attic greek should tell people where the current story is headed. That said, I do wish Asahi could have gotten the Saturninus treatment.

...but yea, there is certainly a large chance that we're going to get something pretty stereotypical. We're talking about folks playing blip bloops on their monitor, not folks angling for a Bancroft Prize or cites on h-list.

KeseyTaking the last one as the most likely path for game's story as this creates a mystery to uncover, the city of gold could be tied to an unknown civilization, maybe one that was old enough to battle the Allagans (We know that nations can date back to the Allagan just like Mercydia or Bozja) or we could go even further back in time and speculate that the city of gold housed a civilization that was around in the time of the Ancients, possibly a sister city to Amaurot or another government/civilization independent of the Ancients.

See, this is where I'm leaning on that. Legendary cities of gold have always been exactly as you've described. Even myths that Mansa Musa had a city of gold were based purely on the fact he was bringing thousands of pounds of gold as tribute to places like Mecca and the legendary Peruvian cities of gold were misinterpretations of people telling conquistadors stories about a place where you can _get_ a lot of gold, not a literal city of gold, and we saw how the Spaniards reacted to that news.

[Parua]

If you're screaming "cram it nerd" or "go back to your books and leave us gamers alone, dweeb" give this reply a thumbs up. I can handle the scorn.

[Iscah]

My (not particularly educated) understanding was that the Mamool Ja were based on Central/South American cultures.

I'd like to see the ability to choose Whalaqee as your race/clan when creating a hyur. Perhaps their height range is narrower and perhaps they are either stronger or weaker or have better magic. Perhaps this questline will appear in the New World to bring the Blue Mage into the regular lineup after quests at, say, lvl 90?

If you want your Hyur character to be Whalaqee, you give them an appropriate name and hit the "create character" button. That's all there is to set different cultural races apart here.