A series of blog posts about the philosophy of dualism and how much it can tire out a single gender-ambiguous Elezen. <<Previous | Next >>───────────────────────────────────This was a session of three primals and three tales, so long as you ignore the secret four tale, the fact we only fought one primal, the point where it all comes together, and the fifth tale which I will recap in only the shortest of terms because of my contempt for its main character: The Ala Mhigan revolutionaries are back at it in Thanalan, we got back Yda and Papalymo from them, and they're being led by a masked, charismatic Griffin, a man who made a deal with the devil and
I KNOW HIM I CAN SMELL THE STENCH OF HIS SINS.Ahem. First, of Garuda and the Warriors of Darkness. We made it through the dungeon of Xelphatol and dealt with Garuda's summoners long before they had a chance to prod her out of her aetheric birdbox. The Warriors were left looking rather silly with their late arrival. Arbert the Warrior, Blanhaerz the Paladin, Lamimi the White Mage, Naillebert the Black Mage, J'rhoomale the Bard: These were the names assigned to them in Encyclopædia Eorzea. Not their real names, mind; they were of the First, as I had expected. They were kind enough to elaborate their plots before departing.
Seemingly independent of the Calamities lies a different type of disaster. Should the battle twixt Ascians and the Warriors of Light go too well for either side, dire consequences await: a victory. The Floods of Light and Darkness consume the realm, leaving an emptiness not even fit for Rejoining. Arbert's First was one such victim, swallowed by his party's success in Ascian-slaying and now hanging on by a thread. Another was the Thirteenth, or the Void in more familiar words, long ago consumed by the darkness. Somehow, by the ministrations of Elidibus, a new Rejoining might be the First's only hope. Just a shame about what happens to Eorzea every time there's a Rejoining, huh?
We will get back to the Warriors. There was also a sixth, gray-robed Elezen with them. Now, of him and Titan. He was no Warrior of Darkness, yet he worked with them and teleported away when they did. A man of conflicted loyalties, formerly aligned to the people of this star and now a masked malefactor. A man of stylish clothing who really ought employ it with his true identity. All this was revealed after taking down Titan, who was soloable in a reused level 50 Duty due to a rushed summoning. We will get back to the Elezen later.
Third, of Ifrit and Alisaie. She was first by base chronology but this is my blog and I get to pick the order of words. Thancred delivered her to the Scions with a case of acute arrowing. I had no doubt she'd get better; People dead of poisoned arrows don't show up in artwork for patch 7.5. The chirurgical might of Ishgard honed by a thousand years of fixing the owies of its dragon hunters proved no match for the toxin and she was soon back on her feet and teasing Alphinaud, which we have already established to be a marker of hale health. I've found plenty else to admire about her in this session: her new Tataru-provided look, her subtle prodding of Urianger for the Elidibus meeting she had alone witnessed, her new Red Magery which she would deploy at Ifrit's site and which we will get back to later. Most of all, though, I admired her kidness, which we will get back to right now.
Behold the koboldling Ga Bu, kicked into the plot by the devious plot wizards of Square Enix to make the horrors of the beastmen conflict shown, not told: a child's parents dead to his own kin to fuel the war machine! Ogle at his accidental summoning of Titan, cycles of hatred manifest without even having to wait for the child to grow! Weep, as Titan weeps, repeating Ga Bu's cries for his parents! We, the "civilised", broke the pact with the Kobolds, remember? Not
us us, but it's our burden regardless. The Scions did everything right, as is so often
not the case in real life, yet a traumatised child still remained. However, there was Alisaie, who showed nothing but kindness to the kid and got him talking again after a starlit heart-to-heart. Ga Bu will not be fine, but he was miraculously not tempered and he is a lot better than he would have been without Alisaie.
Finally, the ending: Ifrit was a distraction. Prodded by the gray-robed Elezen, Arbert saw that this planet had only enough room for one axe-wielding Warrior. He could not save his world with Dominique alive and the threat of Ifrit was but an invitation for a showdown. Five of them versus Dominique, the twins, and Thancred. We had the upper hand in spite of the numbers disadvantage with our hero's target instincts to kill the healer first and Alisaie's newfound rapier skills, but the Warriors' Echo nonsense got us bound and tethered. It is then that mister gray robes tipped the scales back in out favour.
It was Urianger! His shadow was well foreshadowed, but I didn't expect him to remain at our side. His bookish blasts and Alisaie's aetheric blade took down the Warriors of Darkness... and it was a sorrowful sight. They were no less heroes than us, with all the camaraderie you'd expect. They had given everything, including their lives, now living an Ascian-like crystal immortality. Taking out their five Crystals of Light, they tried to fall back and try again. Dominique took out a sixth to round it out and it was here that Urianger's plan became apparent. We were all before Hydaelyn.
I didn't expect the goddess of light to offer help against the First's light problem. I didn't expect Minfilia to regain her individuality and depart for the First as an emissary, taking along the homesick Warriors, nor to get back the Tupsmati. I didn't expect to sit watching all that at the edge of tears.
It was all Urianger's fault. I take back most of the mean things I've said about him.
───────────────────────────────────OPEN QUESTIONSSo many answers... yet I feel so much remains unknown. We're entering the territory of the known unknowns: we know something's not right, but we don't know what. Time to do like Gandalf and undergo a book-reading montage.
WHAT IS THE NATURE OF THE ECHO? It seems the crystal immortality trick is not unique to Zodiark's variant of the Echo. The thing seems to have all kinds of powers. I don't think we're getting a more specific answer for this until we get a more specific question. As the Echo is, above all, a plot-lubricating power, we may never get one.
WHAT IS ELIDIBUS EVEN TRYING TO DO? Foment chaos, cause a Rejoining, which somehow might save the First. His perspective seems to be that eternal death beats eternal life... then again, he doesn't want to tip the scales too hard. Perhaps this question ought be reformatted, but how, I cannot tell.
WHY DO REJOININGS WEAKEN ONLY HYDAELYN? This still vexes me. Surely, a Flood of Light would be something useful to Hydaelyn? Meanwhile, Elidibus speaks that the Floods of Darkness may be undesirable.
WHAT IS THE ORIGIN OF ASCIANS? IS THERE SOMETHING SPECIAL TO "MANTLING" A PRIMAL? Even without a host body, the nature of the primal seems strongly formed by the faith of its summoner, as demonstrated by Titan repeating the words of Ga Bu. Seeing no other fuel for this question, I am content to answer it with "Kind of?"
WHY ARE THE WARRIORS OF DARKNESS CONSPIRING WITH ELIDIBUS? Because in undoing our world, theirs might be saved... but then again, their definition of the world being "saved" might have been the release of death. Fare thee well, bringers of dark...
───────────────────────────────────CRACKPOT THEORIESLots of fuel for the fires of theorising and hate HATE HATE THAT F—
THE GRIFFIN IS THE DAMNABLE TRAITOR ILBERD. Pox upon him. Plague upon his conspirators. Death upon this throat. May his pillows ever be too hot to sleep comfortably.
Yda isn't the real Yda. It's her sister. At the end of our quests today, Yda was shown to have history with Gundobald of the Ala Mhigans from twenty years prior. She'd have to be in her early thirties at the absolute earliest for the timeline to make sense and she looks far too young for that. Papalymo speaks of the "damnable mask" and the one cutscene where we saw her without it had her face out of frame. Meanwhile, an early peek at the Encyclopædia Eorzea reveals a conspicious silence on the topic of her age, but does mention a sister...
Now, the real question is how long has this been going on? Did this happen after the escape? Before the escape? This... I cannot tell.
The balance Elidibus needs to uphold is thus: the Source must not suffer a Flood, but it must suffer more Ardors so that Zodiark ushers forth the end. A void world is useless to the Ascians, and it would seem the same is true of the Source, so we may infer an Ardor requires two intact worlds. If the scales on the Source tip too far, Elidibus (at least thinks) their end game becomes out of reach. This would explain his seemingly conflicting approaches and could explain the umbral/astral cycles at a larger scale.
───────────────────────────────────Thank you as ever for following along my path, dear readers! We've been blazing through the MSQ, so I reckon the next few blogposts will be taking a more leisurely tact. First, to hit the books. Social media aren't books, so I will link none of them.
