Wild speculation about the Treasure Islands of Blindfrost

[mallleable]

After how exploring 'the ruins beneath the waters of he Bounty' lead us to the Thirteenth, and how 'The sacred sites of the forgotten people of the south sea isles' had connections to Dawntrail's MSQ, and gave us The Dimensional Key, I think it is fair to assume that the treasure islands of Blindfrost could have a lot to offer in terms of creating plot threads no matter if it ends being an MSQ dungeon or a V&C dungeon. So let's have fun.

We don't know anything about them other than a vague idea of where they could be geographically, somewhere north of the Dlavalan Grath between Ilsabard, and Othard. And that they are in a colder region from the 'beyond the frozen waters' description. Considering Etheirys doesn't seem to have a south pole, this area could be our fantasy polar region. There's also a couple of letters difference between Blindfrost, and Bifröst of Norse mythology so there could be a connection there. I get Shackleton expedition vibes imagining an actual adventure there.

I also get The Thing or Lovecraftian vibes when imagining finding something we're not supposed to find, something eldritch, frozen in the ice. Or we just find Santa Claus. Or both!

What do you hope they do with 'the treasure islands of Blindfrost?'

[MikkoAkure]

Personally I associate Emet's "Treasure Islands of Blindfrost" with the Xaela and the Chaghagan Khan (an obvious allusion to Genghis/Chinggis Khan).

We get a tiny snippet of history about an ancient Xaela warlord who invaded Ilsabard from an Island nearby called The Unpromised and came back with a treasure hoard gathered from the whole continent, where he was killed after an argument over splitting it devolved into violence. "Treasure Islands of Blindfrost" could be where one of his loyal lieutenants or maybe even his killers had stashed what they could of the treasure, hidden away on the far edge of the world. Of note nearby is the Dalvalan Grath, said to be a tundra populated by "relatives of the Xaela". Another thing to think about as well is that there was once a thing with Koji where he alluded to a third, much older clan of Au Ra that he couldn't talk about as he was cut off by Yoshi-P.

All of this added up could make an interesting Xaela story for a V&C Dungeon storyline with lore bits. The worst that could happen is the whole region being wrapped up in a 1-off dungeon like what happened with Xelphatol and Paglth'an. Far more unlikely, but interesting is if it gets added to a potential Ilsabard expansion as a key part of the story since treasures were stolen and taken back there.

[mallleable]

Personally I associate Emet's "Treasure Islands of Blindfrost" with the Xaela and the Chaghagan Khan (an obvious allusion to Genghis/Chinggis Khan).

We get a tiny snippet of history about an ancient Xaela warlord who invaded Ilsabard from an Island nearby called The Unpromised and came back with a treasure hoard gathered from the whole continent, where he was killed after an argument over splitting it devolved into violence. "Treasure Islands of Blindfrost" could be where one of his loyal lieutenants or maybe even his killers had stashed what they could of the treasure, hidden away on the far edge of the world. Of note nearby is the Dalvalan Grath, said to be a tundra populated by "relatives of the Xaela". Another thing to think about as well is that there was once a thing with Koji where he alluded to a third, much older clan of Au Ra that he couldn't talk about as he was cut off by Yoshi-P.

All of this added up could make an interesting Xaela story for a V&C Dungeon storyline with lore bits. The worst that could happen is the whole region being wrapped up in a 1-off dungeon like what happened with Xelphatol and Paglth'an. Far more unlikely, but interesting is if it gets added to a potential Ilsabard expansion as a key part of the story since treasures were stolen and taken back there.

Ohh! didn't know about that! That might be it. Could make a great V&C dungeon, maybe with like Cirina or someone. I still think there is a possibility that we find signs of an expedition that was there before us, and they found something frozen in the tundra, and that something could be related to 8.0. Especially considering how many well preserved mammoths have been found in Siberia in real life.

[Iscah]

We also still need an explanation for what is going on with the Mol's "old gods" that gives Temulun such relevant prophetic visions.

[MikkoAkure]

We also still need an explanation for what is going on with the Mol's "old gods" that gives Temulun such relevant prophetic visions.

Personally I hope the fewer explanations we get, the better. I wasn’t a fan of Endwalker explaining that the monsters of the world as well as elementals and even migratory birds were just the whims of Ancients. I liked old elemental lore where they were everywhere and in everything, not just some creation that now resides in the Black Shroud and it feels like a little bit of magic has left the setting. I think it’s ok to have things that go unexplained and not everything needs a specific reason why it happens or why it exists.


Another thing is that I was hoping Emet’s speech was just to show that there’s more adventure in the world and not just a roadmap for game development. I don’t like how it’s turned into a checklist but now that we’ve already hit half the list, I guess it’s all coming now.

One thing I scratch my head over is his mention of golden cities of the New World since there ended up only being one and it wasn’t even in the New World. I wonder if it was always meant to be that way or the writers vastly changed the concept at some point.