Tales under the Golden Sun "The Stars Betwixt"

[Zero-ELEC]

The newest sidestory collection Tales under the Golden Sun's first story, "The Stars Betwixt" has released, focusing on Alexandrian knight Zelenia.

https://eu.finalfantasyxiv.com/lodes.../sidestory_01/

Good to have confirmation that Preservation was evil moment one, huh?

[Cleretic]

There's a lot of really interesting lore hooks here, but the main thing I want to point out is that 'Thundran' is a top-tier lightning-elemental boss from a 90s video game. Like, I have absolutely fought that guy in Grandia.

More seriously:

So this gives us a LOT of broad timeline info on Preservation that we didn't have until now: namely, that they'd put Sphene in stasis before they knew any of what they were doing with her, and the Endless plan came later, with this story being in a period when they'd completely given up on a cure, but still hadn't figured out Endless yet. And yeah, even in this early state, they were going in on extortion and outright treason.

Also: Treno confirmed! Another FFIX city, Treno was probably one of the inspirations for Eulmore, is where you unlock the Tetra Master card game, and if I recall is the first time Kuja turns up. It's also one of the two IX towns used as lands in the FF MtG set, which of course, is only enjoyable to me. In terms of FFXIV lore, it shows that other cities were in lightning domes, so it's theoretically entirely possible that another city is just... out there on the Ninth, still stuck in that dome and with no idea what's happened.

EDIT: Also, thought I'd come back to add: this is one of my favorite of the Lodestone short stories to read, hat Preservation stuff is just dripping with a really menacing energy. This is the stuff I was hoping would be the sort of stuff I was hoping Calyx would be the head of, it's great!

[Iscah]

"Thundran" is a really odd name and doesn't clearly fit any of the Alexandrian name formats - can't be Eldite unless it's a really obscure mineral (I searched Wikipedia and got nothing); not impossible to be a Milalla name (the female names are a bit more freeform than male names) but it still doesn't really sound like one, plus it would seem odd if they point Tuphut out as Milalla and then don't do the same for another Milalla. That leaves Hyune, doubly if they're taking an "assume basic human unless mentioned" attitude to races, but it doesn't clearly match anything there either.

The closest I stumbled on is French Sandrine > Sandra > Greek Alexandra or possibly Cassandra - more likely the latter in this context if they're not trying to evoke the already plot-significant Alexandria/Alexander. But it's still an odd rendering of it if that's the case.

[RedLolly]

Her name might be extrapolated from Thunder Eggs, which are formation of geode that's fully filled with some other mineral like agate or opal. But now that we know other regions were living during the storm surge, it could simply be the first instance of a new naming convention from one of those other cities. Or a really obscure reference as Cleretic suggests.

But I swear if this is just setting up Treno as a future hub city after so much FFIX, I'm not sure how the player base would handle that.

[Iscah]

Her name might be extrapolated from Thunder Eggs

Not impossible, though it seems like a bit of a stretch when we've not seen any Eldites using names that aren't exactly the name of a rock. (Or if that was indeed the source and condensed it down to make it more namey, I would have expected "Thundregg" over "Thundran".)

[RedLolly]

Not impossible, though it seems like a bit of a stretch when we've not seen any Eldites using names that aren't exactly the name of a rock. (Or if that was indeed the source and condensed it down to make it more namey, I would have expected "Thundregg" over "Thundran".)

I was thinking similar. And even as a rock hound, naming her something like "thunder egg of carnelian" is just too much. Especially with so many uncommon minerals used like Gabbro. Kind of makes me wonder if we're not supposed to be able to extrapolate her race via the name?

[Iscah]

Especially with so many uncommon minerals used like Gabbro.

I can't comment on the rarity of actual minerals, but if the people picking character names are gamers then there's a good chance they've played Outer Wilds, which also uses mineral names for its primary alien race and Gabbro is one of the more prominent characters. (Not much overlap overall though; I think Gossan is the only other name that comes up for both groups so far.)

But back on topic, I have to agree it seems like Thundran is either from a new and unfamiliar name group or it's a pseudonym for some reason. Being known by that name before she joins the shadowy evil overlord organisation makes it harder to have a good reason for a conspicuous pseudonym though.

[Cleretic]

We don't know the entire naming scheme from every race on the Ninth. It's entirely possible that Thundran is, like, an au ra and that's just what their names sound like over there. Or hell, even just a miqo'te; I believe we saw some of them in the Alexandria dungeon, but the only ones we've met in the present day are Turalian by lineage.

Also, Otis is still alive in this story: that means it's a little over four hundred years ago. That's plenty of time for names to fall in or out of fashion! Especially if some huge cultural shifts happened in that period that might mean the loss of certain cultures, or even just big shifts in association; it's entirely possible that after the Storm Surge, say, took the life of a beloved monarch, names like 'Thundran' seemed a bit poor taste.

I really think Thundran is just a quietly very funny name rather than a mystery to figure out; there are a lot of very plausible, quiet explanations for this one, and honestly it feels to me like a very small detail of the overall story.

[Iscah]

Also, Otis is still alive in this story: that means it's a little over four hundred years ago. That's plenty of time for names to fall in or out of fashion!

Technically yes, but in practice there doesn't seem to be much difference between names being given to modern Alexandrian characters and older ones, besides the possibly modern trend in a few characters of having word-names instead of name-names. Most of them are still Greek-derived and possibly with a liking for plant-names (old Calyx, Triantafylli VS modern Amaryllis, Basil, Petal).

This seems to be a very deliberate new character to introduce to us, with a conspicuously odd name for the setting, and I don't think it's unreasonable to at least poke at the odd name to see if there's something we're supposed to interpret from it.

[RedLolly]

I use Sunstone, Euclase, and Morion as names for my own characters. I loved the uncommon mineral names used in Alexandria, so the little hamster was running at Thundran and Thunder Egg's my best.