Okay, so for the most part, you guys had pretty much figured out what was going on through discussion. However, like a salmon laying all her eggs in one basket, the thread spawned a roe-bust cornucopia of new queries (okay, I’ll stop now...really).

I’ll try to field some of the major ones:

1. The beast tribes have their primals, so what about the 5 races? Do they have their own? Is it Siren? It’s Siren, right? It doesn’t matter if you tell me it’s not Siren, I know it’s Siren. (Please tell me it’s Siren...)

This is a touchy subject. I can tell you that you’ve done a remarkable job of picking up a lot of the subtle hints that were dropped in the 1.0 story (the Ifrit diatribe being an excellent example), but the story was served to you incomplete (in addition to being served over a period of two years), and so you’ve been left to fill in the blanks yourselves. This has lead to a lot of unnecessary confusion, and fixing this for ARR has been one of the main things that Yoshi-P has been preaching to the new quest team. In other words, release more info, with fewer gaps in-between, so that players can better follow the story. So what we’ll see happen in ARR is an influx of quests that try to paint a better picture of what was going on in 1.0. That means, for info regarding this ‘another’ of which Ifrit speaks and the ‘paragons’ who supposedly taught the beast tribes how to summon the primals, you’ll have to wait until ARR begins.

What I have been allowed to say is, the Sanguine Sirens are different from the sirens which are mentioned in the blacksmith/armorer class quests, and both are different from Siren of Final Fantasies past (who has not been mentioned in-game). And then there's the provisional artwork that was recently released...

So wait, does this mean there is no Siren primal? Well, that remains to be seen.

2. Is that Leviathan in Limsa Lominsa’s opening?

No, that is not Leviathan. It’s a sea serpent. This is explained (somewhat convolutedly) in the Limsa Lominsa storyline. The sahagins do still worship Leviathan, and he being their primal, it is only a matter of time before the fishbacks summon him to wreak some havoc on the thalassocracy.

But! But! In It Kills with Fire it is mentioned that the Company of Heroes slew Leviathan! Yes, the CoH did slay him, and have been doing primal raids ever since they started appearing. But as you all found out fighting Ifrit and Garuda, defeating a primal doesn’t mean the primal is dead. You’ve only caused the beast tribes to waste some of their precious crystal supplies in summoning the primal again.

3. What are the Ascians and what do they represent?

ARR will feature more on these guys, so for now you’ll have to be content with knowing there’s more to know... Anonymoose made a good point in bringing up that Ascian means ‘shadowless’. Perhaps you might find something interesting if you go back through the 1.0 cutscenes and look for people without shadows...

4. Do the Twelve exist? Are the Archons from the Circle of Knowing actually the Twelve? Are the primals and the Twelve one in the same (er, twelve in the same)?

More info on the gods of Eorzea and how both the Twelve and the primal fit into the whole celestial scheme of things will be revealed in ARR, but even then things will remain hazy. I mean, it’s religion. It’s hazy by design. In one age, a guy who single-handedly kills a microchu to save a girl is a good Samaritan. The story gets told by a thousand different people, each time changing just a little, but each time becoming more epic (the microchu becomes an ochu, the ochu becomes ten ochus, the girl becomes a princess, and so-on). In the next age, he’s a hero. In the next, he’s a saint. In the next, he’s a god, smiting ochus with levinbolts from high atop a snowy peak. And what of those people who possess magic or technology that is beyond the comprehension of the commonfolk? Would they not appear as gods? And what about those powerful entities who fancy themselves as gods, and use people gullible enough to follow them to obtain what they desire (power, gold, etc.)? And what of the actual gods, who normally don’t give a hoot about the ants crawling about their realms, but will intervene when it amuses them? Hopefully the story in ARR will help categorize who falls into what slot.

I can mention why primals are referred to as primals, though. It is not because they are underdeveloped, younger deities, but because the beast tribes tend to believe that they were the ones who created them, the world, and everything. They are the primal forms of existence.

5. What happened to Atmos?

Thanks to the havoc wreaked on the planet’s aetherial flow by good old Dalamud (Bahamut) the rift between Hydaelyn and the void (which up until now had been small, and reserved to places like Dzemael Darkhold) grew extremely large in that turbulent period of time leading up to the Battle of Carteneau. This allowed far more, far larger, and far more powerful enemies a free pass into Eorzea—a hotbed of aetherial energy, also known as a voidsent’s favorite snack. Atomos was one of these creatures. So, what happened to him? That remains to be seen in ARR.

6. Do the dragons of Dravania worship a primal? And if so, who? Is it Nidhogg? Midgardsormr? Someone else?

Yoshi-p dropped a few bombs last week revealing that both Midgardsormr and Nidhogg were not primals, but dragon ‘kings.’ However, he also revealed that the dragons are a beast tribe...and that beast tribes have their own gods (primals)... So...

7. When did Eorzeans start using the Garlean term of "beastmen" that allowed it to become a perfectly acceptable term attracting absolutely no backlash by the time we start playing the game? And if this term could be so well engrained, why aren't we calling the primals "eikons" with equal willingness? It seems a bit of a contradiction.

It depends on who you ask. The people of Ul’dah, who have branded the beast tribes as an ultimate threat (as their presence infringes on profits) are more likely to side with the Empire’s take on the issue, and resort to racial epithets conveniently provided by the empire via propaganda (fliers from the sky, hired rabble rousers, etc). On the other hand, there are those (like Minfilia and others on the Path, or the Ashcrown Consortium) who seek peaceful relations with the tribes. These are more likely to use terms such as primal over eikon. And then there are those who float about in the middle, and simply haven’t given it much thought—kind of like my grandfather who probably wasn’t what I’d call a ‘racist,’ but ended up using terms (that we now deem racist) throughout his life just because that’s what the people around him used.


In conclusion (man, was this post a doozy!), remember that Eorzea is filled with misinformation. This can be expected in a semi-medieval world that lacks proper channels of communication. Most news is passed through a filter of individuals who mangle the original story, remembering only what pertains to them, and making up the rest. This is what makes searching for the truth fun. You have to sit back and sift through the dirt and rocks to find those nuggets of gold. Do you believe Urianger or the people who call him a liar? Do you believe that the Archons are avatars of the Twelve because a crazy girl with spriggan friends dreamt it was true? Battling the red herrings can be quite the challenge, but the reward for defeating them is always worth it.

Until next time!


PS: After looking at the ‘interesting’ lyrics posted by Anonymoose, I just realized that we have yet to release the official transcript of the song Answers. I've spoken with Yoshi-p, and given him the EN lyrics. Supposedly he'll be posting both the EN and JP later today. Huzzah!