Erenville's Journey

[MikkoAkure]

Unless the writers throw us a curveball, there’s only one region according to currently existing lore where all Rava Viera live and that’s the Golmore jungle.

[Iscah]

One day—perhaps when his part in their adventures is ended—he will lay to rest a long-deferred matter. That which had confronted him in his faraway home long before he took his new name, and chose to walk the gleaner's path.

Isn't "his faraway home" his origins ? Viera change name when they leave their land, that is why the text is talking about "his new name".

What have you learned about his home from that paragraph besides that it's far away?

Does that constitute learning about where someone is from?

[Didimiaou]

What have you learned about his home from that paragraph besides that it's far away?

Does that constitute learning about where someone is from?

"That which had confronted him in his faraway home long before he took his new name, and chose to walk the gleaner's path."

English is not my mother tongue, but I think it is written in the sentence I quoted. In french it is pretty the same. As I said, Viera have to change their names when they leave their lands. So it is implicit that we are talking about a land where Erenville had another name. Which is (very) probably Golmore in this case.

Am I wrong ?

[Iscah]

"That which had confronted him in his faraway home long before he took his new name, and chose to walk the gleaner's path."

English is not my mother tongue, but I think it is written in the sentence I quoted. In french it is pretty the same. As I said, Viera have to change their names when they leave their lands. So it is implicit that we are talking about a land where Erenville had another name. Which is (very) probably Golmore in this case.

Am I wrong ?

That still doesn't tell us anything specific to Erenville. Any Viera who leaves their homeland will change their name, so learning that he changed his name doesn't give us any more information than we already gained from "his faraway home".

Maybe it was Golmore, maybe it was another faraway place.

It does not say, so we have not learned where he is from except that it is far away. Far away is not a location and does not tell us anything about him personally – where he lived or why he left or how he came to work in Sharlayan. That is what I expect to hear about when learning about his origins.

[Kesey]

That still doesn't tell us anything specific to Erenville. Any Viera who leaves their homeland will change their name, so learning that he changed his name doesn't give us any more information than we already gained from "his faraway home".

Maybe it was Golmore, maybe it was another faraway place.

It does not say, so we have not learned where he is from except that it is far away. Far away is not a location and does not tell us anything about him personally – where he lived or why he left or how he came to work in Sharlayan. That is what I expect to hear about when learning about his origins.

I know we are scouring every detail for a location for the next expansion, but isn't anyone worried about what confronted him at that home that made him leave (probably run away) and take a new name? Is he a criminal? Falsely accused and ran away? Didnt want to be part of the culture so left? These are some more interesting ideas and we're just letting them sit out there till we nail down a location???

[Cleretic]

but isn't anyone worried about what confronted him at that home that made him leave (probably run away) and take a new name? Is he a criminal? Falsely accused and ran away? Didnt want to be part of the culture so left? These are some more interesting ideas and we're just letting them sit out there till we nail down a location???

I think people generally see viera leaving their homeland as... just sort of inevitable. Maybe that's because the fact we've never been there (unless you count Fanow) and so every single viera we've ever met or played as is someone who's left, but also, we're looking at a world that's had a healthy amount of immigration anyway.

I don't see anything about Erenville that tells me that he left on exceptionally ugly terms, and the fact he's apparently able to go back means that things aren't as bad as they could be. I could see that maybe it became unsafe--perhaps he lived in an area that got occupied by the Imperials--but I don't read anything in his behavior that there's necessarily a lot of drama in his departure from his homeland. And in those cases, I just don't feel right insisting that there must be some completely unseen drama, if only because that sets expectations at a point where it'll be really disappointing if it turns out that he just didn't much like where he grew up, or something.

[Iscah]

I know we are scouring every detail for a location for the next expansion, but isn't anyone worried about what confronted him at that home that made him leave (probably run away) and take a new name? Is he a criminal? Falsely accused and ran away? Didnt want to be part of the culture so left? These are some more interesting ideas and we're just letting them sit out there till we nail down a location???

There well might have been something dramatic, but I doubt that it would be something that reflects badly on him.

Changing his name is entirely a Viera culture thing. They commonly change their name when their situation changes – from something as significant as leaving the forest to minor things like the fortune-teller from last Heavensturn saying he switches between multiple names according to what has been read in his fortune.

[Kesey]

I think people generally see viera leaving their homeland as... just sort of inevitable. Maybe that's because the fact we've never been there (unless you count Fanow) and so every single viera we've ever met or played as is someone who's left, but also, we're looking at a world that's had a healthy amount of immigration anyway.

I don't see anything about Erenville that tells me that he left on exceptionally ugly terms, and the fact he's apparently able to go back means that things aren't as bad as they could be. I could see that maybe it became unsafe--perhaps he lived in an area that got occupied by the Imperials--but I don't read anything in his behavior that there's necessarily a lot of drama in his departure from his homeland. And in those cases, I just don't feel right insisting that there must be some completely unseen drama, if only because that sets expectations at a point where it'll be really disappointing if it turns out that he just didn't much like where he grew up, or something.

This is from the Tales from the Dawn from last year's Rising, in the short story "In Pursuit of Knowledge" quote, "One day—perhaps when his part in their adventures is ended—he will lay to rest a long-deferred matter. That which had confronted him in his faraway home long before he took his new name, and chose to walk the gleaner's path."

Erenville is clearly involved in something else. This is explicit foreshadowing. So again, I ask in this thread, why are we so focused on the where, when we've been given the license to speculate on what happened before? Confronted implies some sort of reconning or violence. So what did he do? Or what has happened to him?

[Cleretic]

This is from the Tales from the Dawn from last year's Rising, in the short story "In Pursuit of Knowledge" quote, "One day—perhaps when his part in their adventures is ended—he will lay to rest a long-deferred matter. That which had confronted him in his faraway home long before he took his new name, and chose to walk the gleaner's path."

Okay, I'm seeing where you're coming from, but I do think you're overemphasizing. With this sort of thing, I really encourage looking at the potential minimum rather than just immediately defaulting to the maximum. Not everything is a hint towards a world-ending calamity, and we should consider it on a smaller level--especially when it's someone like Erenville, who doesn't exactly have 'Secret Final Boss' energy. If this is a hook for content, we should consider that maybe it's smaller content.

I'd dissect this as three separate elements:
A. He was 'confronted' with something at home that he feels a need to return to deal with,
B. That he left home,
and C. That he decided to become a gleaner.

Interestingly, none of these are necessarily related. They're presented next to each other, but the only throughline is 'these happened to Erenville in this order'; there's not actual confirmation that A led to B led to C. And again, there's no indication that he left on bad terms or 'did' anything (viera taking new names is their custom), and it's clear that he can return. However, a story that involves this would most likely provide at least brief explanations for all three of these.

As a result, I'd say the 'theoretical minimum'--the smallest story that would still be worth them treating this way--is a sick family member. Probably not 'on death's door' sick, he can easily return and just hasn't found the time to until now, but that would certainly be something he'd be 'confronted' with ('Eren, I'm sorry you had to learn like this, but your mom has Magicancer') and would make some sense as a throughline for his character; much like Lamitt, leaving his people in search for a way to help them. There is nothing saying the story can't be this small, and it would be a good opener for, perhaps, a crafting or gathering questline.

My vibe for where I'd personally take this, however: ancient Vieran magical secret. Let's go Tomb Raider on this thing, but without the colonialist subtext. Erenville found out something about his people--perhaps something they actively hid, or perhaps just a lost piece of their history--and became a gleaner in part to learn how to handle this, since we do know that archaeology is part of a gleaner skillset. It fits all three of these points, would actually be something that naturally leads into content, and also makes sense for both the character of Erenville as he's been produced, and his only real character relationship, with Krile and the Students of Baldesion.

[Kaliesto]

I think the writers are trying their best to throw us off the scent with the New World theory, but everything released so far seems to indicate Ivalice & the Auracite threat which was hinted at a couple of times.

Right now its starting to look like the 6 Zones & Two Major City States that its going to be -

The Major Cities in theory:
Valnain (this one is likely because it might play a part to reaching Meracydia)
Rabanastre (Unknown, its 50/50 chance it could be)
Unknown Capital of Meracydia if they have one
Unknown Capital of the New World (if they're really trying to cram both Continents into 7.0 since we need to acknowledge Asura and its domain name).

Zones:
Corvos (not likely going to have a city state teleport since the region is in chaos)
Golmore Jungle (Maybe relating to Erenville)
Unknown Nagxian Zone
Meracydia
The New World
Secret Zone (I'm placing bets the next big bad is the Auracite and its origins).

Alternate Zone -

Dalmascan Desert Region, this is extremely up in the air for now.