Solution 9 - Unfounded Speculation!

[Denishia]

Pondering the known geographic distribution of Chocobos, my new wild speculation is that they are, unbeknownst to all, native to Meracydia and were imported by Allagans and went feral, hence the limited presence and concentration in Aldenard. Turns out they’re emus.

But on a serious note, I think one of the neon signage had a chocobo on it. But like the Amaro, Argos, and the Hamsa (which is odd that we didn’t get that recolor of the Dodo in Island Sanctuary), there will be a new mount that our character rides on during an MSQ quest line, so the speculation is if they reuse the Wivre or something new, and if there’s a new porter like there was the hawks in Stormblood.

Sadly the one prediction that won’t be true is that while Solution Nine is where Las Vegas is, it won’t have gambling-based mini-games.

[Iscah]

the Hamsa (which is odd that we didn’t get that recolor of the Dodo in Island Sanctuary)

We got the Dodo of Paradise as the rare variant, which I think is the gastornis model from the Sea of Clouds, but I can't remember whether that's the same colour scheme as the hamsa.

It makes sense for the common dodos on the island to be the same plain type found in La Noscea, though.

[YianKutku]

Does anyone know if Allag used the modern alphabet? I know all our maps for Allagan areas do. If Solution Nine is still using an older script, they’d have to be older than even Allag, from another Shard, or picked it up from somewhere and adopted it as their own for some reason. I think that script being there pokes holes in a lot of theories and limits the scope of our speculation.

Working entirely off unreliable memory, Allag used the "modern alphabet". In fact, the "modern alphabet" is the Allagan one, or at least close to the Allagan one. (Source is EE2 p34-35.) This is a bit of a retcon, since EE1 p29 claimed the priests and scholars of the Fourth Umbral Era came up with an entirely new alphabet to hide their studies from the anti-intellectualism of that time, and that became the modern Eorzean alphabet. Now, EE2 says the Allagan alphabet is close enough to the modern Eorzean alphabet as to be mutually intelligible, except the pronunciations are different due to drift. How this affects historical research in-universe is not elaborated, other than mentioning how this language and alphabet was lost during the Fourth Eras and rediscovered later.

However, one handwave given by the lore writers (primarily Koji Fox) is that "early Allagan" and "late Allagan" are very different periods, since the empire spanned a few millennia. This is why the Labyrinth Of The Ancients looks nothing like Syrcus Tower, architecturally. This is also the explanation given for why there are many pieces of unfamiliar script scrawled on the various robots in Azys Lla: they're supposedly from a forgotten dialect of part of the Allagan Empire that is lost to history. From a Doylist perspective, the actual answer is this is what happens when the devs have to grab models and textures from FFXIII due to development crunch, and forgot to modify the Pulse writing.

So there's already a potential loophole for "this unfamiliar alphabet is Allagan, but not the only Allagan alphabet".

As for Solution Nine, the part which I'm expecting a lot of speculation from is how the alphabet used there is identical to the "proposed Ancient alphabet" combining Eorzean and Vrandtic alphabets to find a common ancestor. Putting aside the caveats about "this is what in-universe scholars think", the fact that it's used here gives a very high chance that this is the Ancient alphabet, with only a miniscule chance that it's all a coincidence.

So somehow, Solution Nine retains the Ancient alphabet, after the Sundering and twelve thousand years. This is remarkable, because even the First did not, despite the First having literal Ancient ruins that survived those twelve thousand years, as Anamnesis Anyder. So presumably there have been fewer world-shattering and culture-destroying events on the First, but Norvrandt still has a completely different alphabet. (I do not believe the alphabet will have changed in the hundred years since the Flood of Light; too little time.) So how did Solution Nine, on the Calamity-prone Source (including the "continent-breaking" Fourth Calamity) have writing in the Ancient alphabet?

[Iscah]

So somehow, Solution Nine retains the Ancient alphabet, after the Sundering and twelve thousand years.

We don't know that for certain – we just know that they are using it today.

As previously noted, it's possible that they have revived this script from ancient ruins rather than using it continuously.

[Denishia]

RE: Hamsa mount itself was what I was surprised we didn’t get.

The archaic font could easily be a rediscovery or preservation of features because of typeface, or a funkiness related to Tural’s need for a universal script. In fact, rediscovery or a scholarly effort to work back to a root form out of fantasy justification to have a version of Eorzean applicable to a wider language/culture base could make sense. Church Latin and all that. The reason could be very convoluted or simple.

[Alleluia]

The massive chasm could be a recent development.

One of those 'not sure what to make of it' signs around Dawntrail for me is that the chasm doesn't have a name on the map. That thing's so big that it's very prominent on a world map, and yet it's not actually labelled.

I don't even know if that's actually a sign of something or just a bit of a quirk, though.

That reminds me. Do we know the exact location of the Ridorana Lighthouse? Cus if its situated on that chasm that crosses the new world (probably the western tip of it, closest to Hingashi.) that would not make the chasm a recent development, since the Lighthouse was supposed to be pretty old, I think? (though I suppose it depends on what you mean by "recent".) Also, it might mean the origin for the Garleans might be somewhere in the New World.

Also it means DT could tie in to Altima/auricite somehow, if it brushes against the Ivalice stuff; which we know is a bit of a dangling thread after Pandemonium.

Also, I really just want to know how that chasm can exist in the ocean and not be filled. If I had to venture a guess on the secret zone in DT, the bottom of that chasm would be one of my top contenders. Explain it, game. Explain it.

[MikkoAkure]

That reminds me. Do we know the exact location of the Ridorana Lighthouse? Cus if its situated on that chasm that crosses the new world (probably the western tip of it, closer to Hingashi.) then somewhere in the New World might be an origin point for the Garleans. That would definitely not make the chasm recent a development, since the Lighthouse was supposed to be pretty old, I think?

There is a place on the Valnard Sea, far to the south of Rabanastre, where the ocean tumbles into a gaping maw more than a malm across─the Ridorana Cataract. Legend would have us believe that it is the entrance to the Hell of Water. Many a scholar seeking to prove otherwise has descended into the chasm─some even by airship─but not a one has returned.

Ridorana is the name of both a massive gap in the southern Valnard Sea, and the lighthouse once manned by the Royal Dalmascan Navy to prevent ships from succumbing to the cataract's currents.

In the Valnard Sea to the south, a lighthouse perches on the lip of the Ridorana Cataract - a gaping maw in the ocean believed to lead into the seventh hell. This spire illuminates the path to the northern sea routes, and thence to the docks of Valnain.

Far to the south of Rabanastre, in a remote corner of the Valnard Sea

Not exactly descriptive since neither Ridorana nor the Valnard Sea show up labeled on maps, but it's not anywhere near the New World nor Hingashi in any case. All we know is that it's "south of Rabanastre", "far from civilization", yet close enough that Dalmasca was responsible for it and it was abandoned after Garlemald conquered them. It also seems to point trade towards Valnain, which we know the location of. There's also a blink-and-you'll-miss-it sight of coastline in the distance from the lighthouse. It's also close enough that airships can go there. They don't have infinite range after all.

We know that the Ridorana Cataract was created by an explosion at Goug during Ramza's time there and it forced the Gougans/Garleans there to relocate. The ocean hole in Tural seems to originate in the middle of the ocean between Aldenard and Tural and it forks after hitting the continent. It's probably important though and will likely show up in Dawntrail at some point, whether in the the main expansion story or the patches.

[Alleluia]

So, there's not one but two waterfalls in the middle of the ocean. I know magic is a thing, but still. Where is the water going? How is the ocean level not dropping after however many years of constant draining? This makes me even more curious. lol

[Cleretic]

So, there's not one but two waterfalls in the middle of the ocean. I know magic is a thing, but still. Where is the water going?

Into the aetherial sea to be reborn, duh.

(Serious speculation on top of joke speculation: actually, maybe the Ridorana Cataract and Panama Chasm are why it's the aetherial sea; there's just been a bunch of water in there as long as anyone can remember, so it gets that association.)

[MikkoAkure]

Considering places like the Sea of Clouds produce water from nothing but magic (crystals), we need a magic place for water to drain before we're drowned by magic water coming from above.