Ronka/Toral Theory

[Kuroka]

While what we know says they only conquered the Three Great Continents + Meracydia, they should have had some knowledge about the Western Continent and that could explain the presence of tomes if they keep this up for Dawntrail.

Conquered or not, we know they had spaceships... they knew it for sure, might even have mapped it out for later..

[Iscah]

That just straight up looks like an Amaro to me

I don't see any resemblance to an amaro at all, just a snake's head.

[Alleluia]

The other assumption here is that Ronka itself was originally a civilization of the First, as opposed to the Source or any other shard for that matter. What makes them interesting is that this is potentially an advanced ancient civilization that could have spread across the shards, which would make them more advanced than the Allagans. It could be that the people of Toral have secrets in their heritage that are technologically miles ahead of anything we've seen in Eorzea, without needing to be tied down to Amaurot or some such. It also means that there could be other things at stake in the separation of the shards as well, if the Ronkans had interest in exploring them. The possibility itself is interesting.

I think this has an outside chance of being true, personally. Ronka/Tural having a common ancestor in, say, the ninth shard (cus Solution Nine) could be interesting.

Alternatively, it might go the way of explaining commonalities between Turali and Ronkan architecture like they did the commonalities btwn Eulmore and Limsa. Or how Yoshi-P explained how the same races "evolved" on each shard: completely improbable and coincidental convergent evolution post-sundering. In 12 thousand years. (... I really do hope we never have that stated as canon in-game. It bugs me.)

So yeah, we may just get no explanation. But if there IS an explanation, I like the common ancestor from a third-party shard idea.

[Remarus]

I wanted to resurrect this in light of all that's come out since Dawntrail. Besides the commonalities in the general turali architecture, Tender Valley has a Yok Huy temple devoted to the Great Serpent filled with Ronkan-but-green defense mechanisms and all but identical murals and carvings to the Qitana Ravel. The Skydeep Cenote gives us similar architecture to the Ravel as well right up until it meets up with the Alexandrian gate, and the dungeon armor sets are the Ronkan armor sets but purple.

The Ronkan Empire was wiped out by a mysterious disease, similar to the Yok Huy expedition as well. Being their proximity to the Alexandrian gate, the question remains, did the Yok Huy utilize it for cross-shard travel and propagate to the First?

[MikkoAkure]

The Ronkan Empire was wiped out by a mysterious disease, similar to the Yok Huy expedition as well. Being their proximity to the Alexandrian gate, the question remains, did the Yok Huy utilize it for cross-shard travel and propagate to the First?

I think most of the parallels between Ronka and Tural are a consequence of the devs plundering the same real world cultural aesthetic for two different in-game cultures than any actual tangible lore reason. Just like we don’t accuse the people of the 1st, the 9th, and the 13th as secretly having a connection with the Source just because they all have medieval European architecture and clothing.

As far as the Yok Huy go, their disease is not a mystery. The game says they built a bridge to Xak Tural, which at that point had been completely separated, and then they caught a disease that was like a seasonal cold to the locals that they had no defense to and completely ravaged their people to the point they generally can’t even grow to full height anymore.

[Cleretic]

The Ronkan Empire was wiped out by a mysterious disease, similar to the Yok Huy expedition as well.

No it wasn't.

The arcane secrets which played such a vital role in Ronkan ascendancy became widespread knowledge, eroding the advantages the empire's military had over its neighbors. History indicates this is when the wolves closed in, nipping at the flanks of their larger prey. Border skirmishes became common, with the empire bleeding territory as the constant conflict ground down its forces. It became a war of attrition, and the more the Ronkans weakened, the more hesitant their allies became to offer aid. When the foe at last massed upon the capital's doorstep, they waited in vain for friendly reinforcements to arrive. But no such help was forthcoming.