Solution 9 - Unfounded Speculation!

[fulminating]

Arcadia
noun
an image or idea of life in the countryside that is believed to be perfect
etymology
1. A regional unit of Greece in the central and southeastern Peloponnese. Tripoli is the capital and main city with a population over 47,000.
2. A mountainous region of Ancient Greece, named for Greek mythological hero Arcas; legendary home of the rustic god of nature, Pan.
3. Million places in america, named for 1. and 2.
4. Somewhere in Tucumán Argentina.

Arcadian
adjective
1. relating to or constituting an ideal rural paradise.
"the region was not quite the Arcadian idyll he had depicted"
noun
1. an idealized country dweller.
"the dark satanic mills inspired new generations of Arcadians from Blake to William Morris"


2. a native of Arcadia in Greece.

etymology: late 16th century: from Latin Arcadius, from Greek Arkadia.

It looks like a misspelling/variation on a Greek derived word. If it is meant to convey Greek, then it could be to do with the ancients given the naming convention used for them. Allag also uses greek names - scylla, amon etc and is typically portrayed more technologically than the ancients. The three headed icon could be a reference to cerberus (greek, but also world of darkness) as the heads look vaguely canine. The circle effect on some of the billboards is reminiscent of the control panels in azys lla - if you go to helix then up the ramp toward the computer area, the terminal on the left as you enter has a similar pattern flickering in and out over the blue ball in the control panel. This may just be the way projected screens are portrayed by the artist though and not necessarily relevant. As an addendum, outside of the fandaniel echo flashback in tower of zot, I don't remember any allagan technology that doesn't predate the fourth umbral calamity, so well maintained allagan cities may look different than we are used to. There isn't really much information to go off though and I don't know if allag went over to the new world in any capacity. Maybe they're going for a Rome/Constantinople style thing, but roman imagery is usually reserved for the garleans so probably not.

Unless it's sarcastically titled the likely meaning of the word doesn't really align with what we know about the ancients. Unless they want to really lean into the outer wilds spoiler

dreamworld/vr/matrix angle. Echoes of the eye has similar themes of a destroyed original world and retreating into a shared dream. This could be an interesting avenue to explore.

There's also the possibility that it's not one of the convocation's glyphs, but someone of similar status from far away lands. We know there were other cities because the amaurot npcs mention how it's sad that they got exploded or whatever. Presumably they had someone nominally in charge there, even if they were subservient to the amaurot society. There might be a musical motif shared with the solution 9 music and amaurot, but I lack musical talent. Finally the soul suppository translated text could be to do with the ancient's inability to create souls intentionally, could be placeholder or could be some as yet unknown group. It could also be similar to the resonant process - the floor mural in castrum albania looks pretty stylised.

I'm bored of speculating again and will probably forget I posted this in 5 minutes.

[SannaR]

Those three faces at least when blown up look male AU Ra-ish to me. And until I noticed that there were three mouths I had thought it was a very stylized male Au Ra face. But now they sort of remind me of the hobgoblins of the 1st. We will be getting moblins so maybe it's stylized moblin faces with their masks on.

That's it! It's Alexander 2.0 but this time it's a rave cause the Moblins are all about that techno. They heard the Loporrits's radio broadcasts and went "we can do better than that." and "everyone's" favorite minor Elezen Ascian picked up wind of their love for techno and edm music and told them he could hook em up.

[Grivvaint]

I think the juxtaposition of the proto-alphabet and chocobo signage means something and is probably the closest thing we have to a clue regarding Solution 9's origins.

I don't think it's possible to say for certain what it means at this point, but it's very odd because up until now we've only seen the proto-alphabet associated with Ancients and their creations and we've only seen chocobos associated with parts of modern-day Etheirys.

My theory here is that this could fit with Solution 9 being from the Levin-blasted 12th shard.

Each rejoining starts with manipulation by the Ascians to tilt the balance of a shard. This could have come in the form of advancing a civilization by giving them incredible technologies then stepping back and watching them overuse it. This also would tie into some themes we're seeing hints of in DT with a ceruleum rush in Tural. A bit of green theming or messaging there, maybe. We're hastening the ruin of our own world by chasing ceruleum and meeting people who have already ruined their own world with levin.

[kaynide]

Just throwing something dumb into the ring. I highly doubt it’s a thing, but why not.

So, S9 appears to be electric/lightning based right? Sure!

Zeus enters the chat. (Pashtarot?)

Also, Arcadion itself can be broken down into Greek:

Arcadia in Ancient Greek is a place, and means essentially a Utopia with an emphasis on the land and harmony with nature. -ion as a suffix just makes it a “thing”. So it’s a thing that is or does or makes utopia. The fact that it appears to be hyper-urbanized/“electric” is an interesting juxtaposition.

Using Greek based vocabulary seems to support Ancient meddling (though not necessarily Ascians). Also Utopia (the book) being strongly related to much of the Ascian storyline/naming through Shadowbringers.

(I’m pretty sure and hope this is not the case…also we don’t know if Pash is alive or not, nor do we know his Greek “real name”.)

My theory here is that this could fit with Solution 9 being from the Levin-blasted 12th shard.

I’m actually really curious if a “rejoining” is just the shard dissolving into ..say..an atomic level and being reabsorbed, or if rejoining actually involves entire chunks of land being ripped into the Source. At least with earlier attempts were the Ascians were still figuring it out.

We have a lot of weird geography in the world (like the Cataract), that might be explained by this kinda nonsense.

[Iscah]

I’m actually really curious if a “rejoining” is just the shard dissolving into ..say..an atomic level and being reabsorbed

We've already been told that's the case, and logically that has to be correct.

Rejoining isn't just an effect on the planet but on every living creature, body and soul, and we're not having random chunks stuck in people.

Every aetherial atom must snap into place, like for like, pinpointing its matching shard.

[kaynide]

We've already been told that's the case, and logically that has to be correct.

Rejoining isn't just an effect on the planet but on every living creature, body and soul, and we're not having random chunks stuck in people.

Every aetherial atom must snap into place, like for like, pinpointing its matching shard.

Yeah, but is it -actually actually- the case with the land itself? With the rate established lore seems to change (Dynamis; the Elementals now being some kinda Ancient creation, etc), I’m not sure if I fully believe the narrator, so to speak.

In other words, are we sure the land itself doesn’t warp in the vein of FF5?

As an example, I get that it’s easy to pass off the upheaval of the Shroud as a result of Bahamut’s destruction, but a lot of where he caused damage resulted in crystallized blast rings like in La Noscea. Rather, lots of established places completely move between 1.x and 2.x. Places like the Lifemend Stump.

(I know it’s because map design was bad in 1.0, but in-game explanation is weak)

[fulminating]

Solution 9 is the moblin base of operation. Moblins are so named because they use magitek, in the way Goblins are named for their gas (steam) themed technology. This of course implies the existence of Soblins (not soblyn) who have a stone based society. Said Soblins may have access to the ability to manipulate crystals (possibly making them Coblins), which is of course a fundamental underpinning of the hydaelynian setting. With this advanced ability, the Coblins will pose enough of a threat to be a plausible antagonistic force for the foreseeable expansions.

That or solution 9 is an early ascian attempt at rejoining on an individual level. It's just like a blender where corresponding kidnapped people from each shard are put and whooshed together. It also doesn't work but looks cool and that's what really matters. Since the ascians couldn't get it running, they left and the locals moved in, similar to idylshire.

[kaynide]

With this advanced ability, the Coblins will pose enough of a threat to be a plausible antagonistic force for the foreseeable expansions.

[Tracewood]

My new joke speculation. The succession story of Dawntrail will conclude about halfway or near 2/3's into the MSQ. Solution 9 will take up the last chunk.

That being said, the final boss is some Etheryis impression of a "v-tuber/holo-idol" gone completely bonkers and we have to destroy it to free the denizens of the place. You'll see it's likeness plastered all over the area. If anyone watched the Simpsons, it's sort of like that TreeHouse of horror where Flanders takes over the earth and brainwashed everyone.