Lore-wise, what is the oldest race on the Source, post-sundering? Is it the elezen?

[Lium]

They are basically the elves of FFXIV, and I think I had read that they once ruled most of Eorzea, or was it just The Black Shroud?

But then Ishgard is also an elezen society, so I'm a bit confused on the lore here. Just curious.

If Gridania is your starting city and you do most of the quests there, it definitely paints a picture of the elezen as a very ancient people.

Edit: Not just asking because I'm currently playing as an elezen. I'm actually a hyur, but have fantasia'd into an elezen for the time being.

[Enkidoh]

From what we know of the Ancients and the Sundering, it appears all the modern races probably came about around the same time post Sundering, most likely around the time of the so-called 'Age of the Gods '(remember, the exact same races of the Source are also found on the First, albeit with different cultures and names, and presumedly they are/were on the other Shards like the Thirteenth before it became the Void as well).

Also the nodes on Azys Lla can identity your character's race and refer to it by name (at least one sidequest there had this), showing that they were all around at the very least during the Allagan Empire's heyday (which again makes sense given what we know now about the Sundering).

Either way, Eorzea is a cultural and racial melting pot so the races of people found there have really been there all along since the First Astral Era, and even if Calamities drove them out they all eventually returned sooner or later, so it's something of a moot point.

[MikkoAkure]

All the races came into existence at the same time (apparently).

Elezen were the first to repopulate Eorzea after the latest calamity (to reflect the old 1.0 lore where they were the original natives), but none of the existing civilizations in the world pre-date the calamity that was less than 1600 years ago. The Elezen were seemingly the main race on the continent until the Hyur began to show up and kick them out.

Sharlayan is the oldest existing country in the world. Right after the calamity they made a direct democracy out in the middle of nowhere and no one ever bothered them again.

Ishgard became a thing a little over 300 years later after Hyur immigrating from Ilsabard pushed some Elezen out from central Aldenard (main continent of Eorzea).

300 years after that, other Elezen moved into the Black Shroud because of Hyur immigrants. But all of the ruins around Gridania as well as Gridania itself exist from the time when Hyur and Elezen held hands to build cities together. Before that, no one wanted to live in the Black Shroud since the elementals make it extremely difficult to live there so it was more of a last resort situation.


When it comes to FFXIV, throw out literally everything you know about elves because the Elezen have nothing to do with fantasy elves from any other media except for FFXI, which are the ones they're based on. FFXI Elvaan were even bad at archery and only good at making castles, being French, and killing dragons, which remains in Ishgardian Elezen.

Some Elezen live in the forest and shoot bows, but Gridanian Hyur do too and they built the city together. Gridanian Hyur might be even more traditionally elf-like in that only they get to be blessed by the elementals to become Padjal and only the Hyur have Welsh names.

Most FFXIV background stuff seems to put less importance on your race and more on your country of origin anyway.

[Lium]

All the races came into existence at the same time (apparently).

Elezen were the first to repopulate Eorzea after the latest calamity (to reflect the old 1.0 lore where they were the original natives), but none of the existing civilizations in the world pre-date the calamity that was less than 1600 years ago. The Elezen were seemingly the main race on the continent until the Hyur began to show up and kick them out.

Sharlayan is the oldest existing country in the world. Right after the calamity they made a direct democracy out in the middle of nowhere and no one ever bothered them again.

Ishgard became a thing a little over 300 years later after Hyur immigrating from Ilsabard pushed some Elezen out from central Aldenard (main continent of Eorzea).

300 years after that, other Elezen moved into the Black Shroud because of Hyur immigrants. But all of the ruins around Gridania as well as Gridania itself exist from the time when Hyur and Elezen held hands to build cities together. Before that, no one wanted to live in the Black Shroud since the elementals make it extremely difficult to live there so it was more of a last resort situation.


When it comes to FFXIV, throw out literally everything you know about elves because the Elezen have nothing to do with fantasy elves from any other media except for FFXI, which are the ones they're based on. FFXI Elvaan were even bad at archery and only good at making castles, being French, and killing dragons, which remains in Ishgardian Elezen.

Some Elezen live in the forest and shoot bows, but Gridanian Hyur do too and they built the city together. Gridanian Hyur might be even more traditionally elf-like in that only they get to be blessed by the elementals to become Padjal and only the Hyur have Welsh names.

Most FFXIV background stuff seems to put less importance on your race and more on your country of origin anyway.

Very good points, and these are distinctions I should keep in mind when thinking about lore stuff.

There really isn't one race that towers over the others, like in most fantasy settings. In FFXIV, they are all "mankind". Just different forms of it.

[SannaR]

Sharlyean is the oldest one didn't get conquered since its founding. Otherwise Bozja is older than it as it told Allag "Not to day, buddy!" more than once and it probably wouldn't have been taken over Garlemald if Solus hadn't been possessed by an Ascian and thus had prior knowledge on how to beat them.

[MikkoAkure]

Sharlyean is the oldest one didn't get conquered since its founding. Otherwise Bozja is older than it as it told Allag "Not to day, buddy!" more than once and it probably wouldn't have been taken over Garlemald if Solus hadn't been possessed by an Ascian and thus had prior knowledge on how to beat them.

I did forget about Bozja and the Hrothgar, but in my defense so did SE.

[Cleretic]

We have more time info on subraces than we do on full races. The Duskwight/Wildwood Elezen split is probably the most recent(and elezen before then might be more like Ishgardian elezen, but Ishgardian elezen are probably their own subrace), followed by the Dunesfolk lalafel.

[SilverArrow20XX]

Hingashi is also around 3,000 years old if I recall.

[ReynTime]

All the races came into existence at the same time (apparently).

Elezen were the first to repopulate Eorzea after the latest calamity (to reflect the old 1.0 lore where they were the original natives), but none of the existing civilizations in the world pre-date the calamity that was less than 1600 years ago. The Elezen were seemingly the main race on the continent until the Hyur began to show up and kick them out.

Sharlayan is the oldest existing country in the world. Right after the calamity they made a direct democracy out in the middle of nowhere and no one ever bothered them again.

Ishgard became a thing a little over 300 years later after Hyur immigrating from Ilsabard pushed some Elezen out from central Aldenard (main continent of Eorzea).

300 years after that, other Elezen moved into the Black Shroud because of Hyur immigrants. But all of the ruins around Gridania as well as Gridania itself exist from the time when Hyur and Elezen held hands to build cities together. Before that, no one wanted to live in the Black Shroud since the elementals make it extremely difficult to live there so it was more of a last resort situation.


When it comes to FFXIV, throw out literally everything you know about elves because the Elezen have nothing to do with fantasy elves from any other media except for FFXI, which are the ones they're based on. FFXI Elvaan were even bad at archery and only good at making castles, being French, and killing dragons, which remains in Ishgardian Elezen.

Some Elezen live in the forest and shoot bows, but Gridanian Hyur do too and they built the city together. Gridanian Hyur might be even more traditionally elf-like in that only they get to be blessed by the elementals to become Padjal and only the Hyur have Welsh names.

Most FFXIV background stuff seems to put less importance on your race and more on your country of origin anyway.

Shroud lore is so interesting I wish they did more quest chains focused on it.

[JepMZ]

The dragons were the oldest. They have a whole history spanning the life of a planet probably. And then the robots