A series of blog posts exposing the many bugs of Final Fantasy XIV.<<< First | <<Previous | Next >>——————————————————————————————————————————————
Among my numerous weaknesses is a fondness for bug species in fantasy worlds and the Gnath did not dissapoint. They had all the clicking and weirdness I crave. A cautious peek at the back pages of my Encyclopædia Eorzea described them as "reminiscent of upright antlings". Having observed Dominique and our new traveling party deal with the hivekin with gift baskets, great words, and greatswords alike, I failed to see from whither these accusations of formian form sprung forth. Insectile, yes, but in this humanoid, carapace-behatted shape that clicks about the Hinterlands with delightful, hollow taps of foot against stone.
The Gnath proper live as a hivemind; not the swarm intelligence of flocks of birds, swarms of bees, and other such collective nouns, but one of those linked collective minds that think for all and care for none. Standard issue for fantasy bugs, featuring the extra factory accesory of fiercely individualist bugs cut off from the hivemind in the Vath and the aftermarket accesory of the bugs having muskets. There will be daily quests! Possibly featuring these muskets! And gourmand bugs! Wait, this was supposed to be about getting to a dragon...
Anyx Trine had become a lot more populated by the time Dominique returned with the Fellowship of the Whinge in tow. Ysayle and Estinien were at each other's throats in amusing fashion even without the Gnath taking potshots at us. The brood of Hraesvelgr now sat around the tower was far more pliable to (psionic) chatter, including the dragon Vidofnir, although I cannot imagine her rebuffing our path to Sohm Al had helped the bickering duo's mood. Fortunately for us and unfortunately for everyone else involved, the Ascians had already seeded a primal in the Gnath population and gave them a taste for imperialism. The new godling gave us with a a favour to provide in his slaying and a way further into the depths of Dravania and Hraesvelgr's domain. Someone just had to offer themselves as sacrifice employing the time-tested Ifrit gambit. One of these days, the beast tribes will figure out that they should disarm their prisoners...
Dominique was quite ready to jump into the jaws of death and just get this over together with the other seven Warriors of Light plucked from their worlds by the eldritch magicks of the Duty Finder, but this time, we had another echo wielder volunteer herself for the primal demolition duty. Getting captured was expectedly easy and the primal of the Gnath revealed himself to us as the god of war Ravana. The fool had agreed to a fair fight for the right of calling off his people, but before I could even properly ponder the implications of a hivemind having a deity, Ysayle deployed her own god using some spare crystals.
Turns out, yeah, Shiva can still drop in like that. She didn't perform too well, but that is to be expected from a saint whose legacy was getting devoured by a dragon. It was always going to come down a showdown of gods of war. In Thok ast Thok, steel clashed against steel in a dance of glorious, violin-backed combat. Dominique prevailed by the virtue of spending more time fighing than dancing. I suppose Ravana must have been saving the dance-light choreography for the extreme Trial. Helps that I do not lack for experience in violin-backed combat dances against bugs myself;
The Cogwork Dancers have trained me well. The wargod kept true to his word and conceded defeat, all the while Igerohym the somewhat new Ascian watched from a safe distance. She spoke nebulous nothings to nobody in particular and dissapeared into nothing. This seems to be a traditional greeting in their culture.
With no more viable excuse, Vidofnir granted our group passage through Sohm Al and to the Churning Mists. Sure enough, this was the dungeon entrance of my last blog post. Nidhogg's brood set about to wall Dominique's path and managed to create a slight roadbump. Ysayle, not undeservingly, muttered that this just created more blood feuds twixt man and dragon, but failed to mention up until this point that Tioman, one of the boss dragons was Nidhogg's consort. On one hand,
WE JUST KILLED THAT GUY'S WIFE?! On the other, what was telling that going to change? The wyrm was already going to try and raze Ishgard and we had a Dragoon goon parading his eye around right next to us. His Inner Beast gauge had already capped out!
Thus it was that we had attained the Churning Mists, the land of Cloud Mica, in our violent pursuit of peace. It was a land not seen by mortal eyes for a thousand years, if the dulcet tones of Count Fortemps' narration are to be believed. Whoever had posted that levequest last time was a person whose ambition either outstripped their common sense or accounted for Dominique's existence in Ishgard to a frustratingly correct degree. What awaited us there? Invisible Moogles. You can tell they're there by the local aetheryte being marked as "Moghome". If anyone knew where Hraesvelgr may be found, it would be a gaggle of mystically-attuned furballs, but to reveal them, we'd need to engage the services of their landbound counterparts in Gridania. In a bit of serendipity, the path of the Dark Knight also required a trip to Gridania.
What is to be said of Sidurgu's ward, Rielle? That seems to be the mystery driving the quests here. The forsaken child remained hunted by Temple Knights even as we took her to the Vanu Vanu, then to E-Sumi-Yan in Gridania to reveal the mysteries of her spirit. The allegedly rogue knights considered her an abomination but refused to divulge their reasoning, the Vanu Vanu healer spoke of a great spirit, and E-Sumi-Yan spoke of great potential and the ingestion of dragon blood. Rielle's past is an enigma, but as she revealed while munching on an apple, she never partook of this ichor. "She didn't say I drank blood. All she said was... "It's better this way.”" were her words on one of her captors, who kept her locked in a windowless cell before Sidurgu entered stage left.
I am not sure how I feel about this arc for the Dark Knight quests. It's hard to match Fray's tale, to be sure, but Sidurgu feels like a poor replacement. Perhaps it's due to the tone shift from the personal to, well, someone elses' problem, but I feel Dominique's new mentor is just too much of an edgelord in spite of the flashes of fatherhood he is displaying thus far. He has reasons to brood, but I do not feel much for it. On second thought, perhaps that is on purpose, what with the Darkside? A showcase of how getting consumed by contempt might look from the passenger's seat? Eh. I know, I know, you cannot complain overmuch about edgelordery in the edgelord job, but as much as I enjoy his interactions with Rielle, I am not feeling the same draw. Then again, these are only the first few quests and they're still outmatching the tale of the Warrior. Then again again, the rock formation brothers may well gobsmack me at the finish line!
I still don't know why Sidurgu took Rielle back to Ishgard and into the Temple Knights' reach, though. He might just be a little dumb.
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OPEN QUESTIONSOpen skies and open questions.
WHAT IS THE NATURE OF THE ECHO?
WHAT IS AN ASCIAN?
WHAT IS THE SIGNIFICANCE OF THE ASCIAN WHITE ROBES?
WHAT IS ELIDIBUS' PLAN FOR MINFILIA?
WHAT BECAME OF THE OTHER SCIONS?
WHAT IS THE NATURE OF A PRIMAL? Still unclear, even with the new primal. However, Ysayle can evidently summon Shiva on demand, given Aether. No active worship required, though? I do wish Dominique could pick her brain about how this works. The Grand Unified Theory of Primals requires more data!
WHAT IS THE NATURE OF MIDGARDSORMR'S COVENANT? Another crystal defogged, but no answers yet. The little lizard has been conspiciously silent for a while now.
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CRACKPOT THEORIESListening to Ysayle and Estinien bicker like a married couple gives one time to think.
There will be a Warrior of Light primal. How many lives has Dominique touched touched now? How many trials have we won against impossible odds? I daresay the dialogue might have used the verb "worship" to refer to people's opinions of our gallant hero. We are attaining faith aplenty, aether is easy to come by, and our foes are the mythopoetic Ascians.
Moghome is the Moogle heaven. Why Moogles? Why up there? Perhaps the better question to ask is why do we have moogles... down there. The Churning Mists look sufficiently heavenly. I'm just missing the massive booze stash that got them kicked out of heaven.
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Thank you for reading, kupo! I will link no socials, kupo. It's no heaven up there, kupo.
