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Lost City of Amdapor Lore - Sen - 08-19-2015
Okay, silly question time... Does anyone know of any Lost City of Amdapor lore? I tried doing some Google searches, and end either with very little information or dungeon guides... Also, are people able to survive in there for any amount of time without adverse effects?
Thank you!
RE: Lost City of Amdapor Lore - Shoshopu - 08-19-2015
Born in magic, the ancient city of Amdapor lived in splendor and died in agony. As the Fifth Astral Era gave way to the Sixth Umbral and the ensuing catastrophe, the agent of Amdapor's destruction slept. Now, the seal that has held so long is softening like windfallen fruit─and what blind worms writhe underneath the skin of the dead city?
Amdapor was not always thus afflicted. Indeed, the city once owed an age of prosperity to the benevolent art of white magic. But that was before the War of the Magi. It is told that the enemies of the Amdapori abandoned all caution in their pursuit of victory, and used their dark magicks to summon a king among demons. -E-Sumi-Yan
The civilization of Amdapor was the birthplace of White Magic, which I believe was developed as a counter to Shantotto's black magic. It was destroyed during the War of the Magi. The way the quotes I find tell it, Amdapor's enemies summoned Diabolos upon the city, where he was apparently sealed until the Calamity weakened the seal (which is where the player steps in for the dungeon), but only after royally screwing it up.
A friend of mine is really interested in Amdapor lore and although she doesn't remember exactly what the ingame sources of this information are, when I asked her, she said her impression of it was that the amount of the powerful back-and-forth of White and Black magic in the war devastated the area, including its aether, which allowed Diabolos to come through from the void in the first place- and it was also at that point the Elementals decided White Magic was being abused and sealed it, and the city, away, only allowing Padjal (and the player character, much later) to use White Magic. That might be a mix of some of her own headcanon though, she doesn't remember for sure, but it sounds pretty solid to me so I'm sharing it here. Take it with a grain of salt. But basically it sounds like a big, magical apocalypse event which led to the Sixth Umbral Era, and the Lost City of Amdapor is basically ground zero of the fallout. Sounsyy will probably roll by this thread eventually, or someone else with a more competent grasp on the lore than I have :X
As for how survivable it is- something that really struck me about the dungeon, at least in the area where you first enter, is that it looks a whole lot like a scene at the beginning of Hayao Miyazaki's Nausicaa of the Valley of the Wind (at least the movie, I forget where the manga starts exactly, but the same scene I believe) where a village has been overtaken by the "Toxic Jungle", a forest of enormous fungus spreading across the world, inhabited by... you guessed it, giant insects. In Nausicaa, as long as you don't go too deep into the Jungle, you can survive the toxic spores by wearing what are essentially gas masks, so if you ever have an IC trek into Amdapor your characters could employ something similar to that. Breathing in the spores without a mask would result in hella hemorrhaging of the lungs and a painful death. Not sure if Amdapor's spores are that extreme, though. NPCs don't really mention it, so probably not, but if it'd make the RP more dramatic and exciting, hey.
RE: Lost City of Amdapor Lore - Sen - 08-19-2015
(08-19-2015, 05:53 PM)Shoshopu Wrote: Born in magic, the ancient city of Amdapor lived in splendor and died in agony. As the Fifth Astral Era gave way to the Sixth Umbral and the ensuing catastrophe, the agent of Amdapor's destruction slept. Now, the seal that has held so long is softening like windfallen fruit─and what blind worms writhe underneath the skin of the dead city?I didn't really know about that first part, thank you! Due to time constraints, I'm sometimes guilty of just stepping over quest dialogue to get to the dungeons. As far as the survivability goes, that's about what I was guessing. c:
Amdapor was not always thus afflicted. Indeed, the city once owed an age of prosperity to the benevolent art of white magic. But that was before the War of the Magi. It is told that the enemies of the Amdapori abandoned all caution in their pursuit of victory, and used their dark magicks to summon a king among demons. -E-Sumi-Yan
The civilization of Amdapor was the birthplace of White Magic, which I believe was developed as a counter to Shantotto's black magic. It was destroyed during the War of the Magi. The way the quotes I find tell it, Amdapor's enemies summoned Diabolos upon the city, where he was apparently sealed until the Calamity weakened the seal (which is where the player steps in for the dungeon), but only after royally screwing it up.
A friend of mine is really interested in Amdapor lore and although she doesn't remember exactly what the ingame sources of this information are, when I asked her, she said her impression of it was that the amount of the powerful back-and-forth of White and Black magic in the war devastated the area, including its aether, which allowed Diabolos to come through from the void in the first place- and it was also at that point the Elementals decided White Magic was being abused and sealed it, and the city, away, only allowing Padjal (and the player character, much later) to use White Magic. That might be a mix of some of her own headcanon though, she doesn't remember for sure, but it sounds pretty solid to me so I'm sharing it here. Take it with a grain of salt. But basically it sounds like a big, magical apocalypse event which led to the Sixth Umbral Era, and the Lost City of Amdapor is basically ground zero of the fallout. Sounsyy will probably roll by this thread eventually, or someone else with a more competent grasp on the lore than I have :X
As for how survivable it is- something that really struck me about the dungeon, at least in the area where you first enter, is that it looks a whole lot like a scene at the beginning of Hayao Miyazaki's Nausicaa of the Valley of the Wind (at least the movie, I forget where the manga starts exactly, but the same scene I believe) where a village has been overtaken by the "Toxic Jungle", a forest of enormous fungus spreading across the world, inhabited by... you guessed it, giant insects. In Nausicaa, as long as you don't go too deep into the Jungle, you can survive the toxic spores by wearing what are essentially gas masks, so if you ever have an IC trek into Amdapor your characters could employ something similar to that. Breathing in the spores without a mask would result in hella hemorrhaging of the lungs and a painful death. Not sure if Amdapor's spores are that extreme, though. NPCs don't really mention it, so probably not, but if it'd make the RP more dramatic and exciting, hey.
Thank you for your input!
RE: Lost City of Amdapor Lore - Sounsyy - 08-19-2015
Shoshopu did a good job summing everything up! I just wanted to come in and add a few more lore details as well as my own summary. It's difficult to talk strictly about Amdapor without talking about the War of the Magi also. But I'll try to keep it brief.
3,000 years ago, Eorzea was plagued by the Age of Endless Frost, the Fifth Umbral Calamity. The world had frozen over and people were dying to plague, pestilence, famine, and war. It wasn't until magic was invented that could conjure flame without tinder that the Umbral Era ended and gave way to the Fifth Astral Era as mankind was able to survive the cold and the ice eventually receded.
Having used this early form of Thaumaturgy to survive, the Eorzeans sought to develop greater magicks and propel their societies of magi into a golden age - which they succeeded in doing. But one magi in particular was not satisfied with Thaumaturgy's limitation, being that it drew upon the caster's own lifeforce to invoke magic. Being limited in her own aetherial reserves, the magi Shatotto set out to develop a technique that would instead draw aether from a more abundant source: Hydaelyn. This new technique was coined Black Magic, for it killed the land surrounding the caster, but it allowed them near infinite powers.
Fearing this magic developed by the Mhachi civilization would soon grow unchecked, the elementals gifted the civilization of Amdapor their magic of Succor, with which to keep Black Magic in check. For many years, the two existed in balance and harmony. Until, perversions of the arts were made to meet the ever growing destruction caused by Black Magic. It was then the War of the Magi broke out between the White Mages of Amdapor, the Black Mages of Mhachi, and the Scholars of Nym.
For years the war dragged on. Archons of the time tried to stop the Mhachi, but in their greed for ever greater magicks, they turned to the Otherworld - the Void. In exchange for their powers, the Mhachi pulled voidsent through portals and let them lay waste to their enemies. The Voidking Diabolos all but razed the Amdaporians before the White Mages were able to seal him away. But so great was the toll of the war on Hydaelyn that the planet had been completely drained of aether. So in one last desperate attempt to end the war, the elementals summoned a Great Flood, the Sixth Umbral Calamity, to wipe away the taint of magic. And to ensure their magic would not be perverted again, the Elementals grew up the Black Shroud around Amdapor and sealed the city itself away within a great arbor.
Mankind outlawed the use of magic, and its practitioners were hunted down. What few survived returned to the temple of the Mhachi and founded a city of Magi so that all that they learned would not be forgotten. This city was called Belah'dia, the father of Ul'dah and Sil'dih. But White Magic was kept a secret deep within the Shroud, and the knowledge of its continued existence was kept only by the Padjal, a race of the elementals' own creation. It wasn't until the most recent, 7th Umbral Calamity that Amdapor was revealed by a shard of Dalamud tearing through the Amdaporian tree.
As for whether it's dangerous to breath within Amdapor, I'd say prolonged exposure would not be healthy. But the severity of the spores should/could be based on the RP story you wish to tell. If it makes for a more dramatic story, make it so that the spores are particularly thick for whatever reason - perhaps a recent heavy rain or high humidity has caused an increase in spores and for this reason it's particularly difficult to breath. Note, along with the spores, there's likely a ton of ambient aether inside the Lost City, and prolonged exposure to that would cause aethersickness on top of whatever the spores do to your lungs.
(This was actually the original lore behind why there are dungeon timers, by the way. The air in dungeons have increased ambient aether density, which causes extreme sickness if you stay inside too long. Obviously this doesn't apply to all dungeons, like the Vault or Castrum, but places like Toto-Rak, Amdapor, Dzemael Darkhold, etc you could use as part of your story!)
Hope this helps! ^^
RE: Lost City of Amdapor Lore - Sen - 08-20-2015
Ah! Sounsyy, that's awesome. You and Shoshopu really cleared a ton up! Those background notes about the War of the Magi are just neat. I didn't know any of them except the teeny bits about Belah'dia. This will really help some of what I was trying to flesh out.
Thank you!
RE: Lost City of Amdapor Lore - Sylentmana - 08-21-2015
(08-19-2015, 05:53 PM)Shoshopu Wrote: Born in magic, the ancient city of Amdapor lived in splendor and died in agony. As the Fifth Astral Era gave way to the Sixth Umbral and the ensuing catastrophe, the agent of Amdapor's destruction slept. Now, the seal that has held so long is softening like windfallen fruit─and what blind worms writhe underneath the skin of the dead city?
Amdapor was not always thus afflicted. Indeed, the city once owed an age of prosperity to the benevolent art of white magic. But that was before the War of the Magi. It is told that the enemies of the Amdapori abandoned all caution in their pursuit of victory, and used their dark magicks to summon a king among demons. -E-Sumi-Yan
The civilization of Amdapor was the birthplace of White Magic, which I believe was developed as a counter to Shantotto's black magic. It was destroyed during the War of the Magi. The way the quotes I find tell it, Amdapor's enemies summoned Diabolos upon the city, where he was apparently sealed until the Calamity weakened the seal (which is where the player steps in for the dungeon), but only after royally screwing it up.
A friend of mine is really interested in Amdapor lore and although she doesn't remember exactly what the ingame sources of this information are, when I asked her, she said her impression of it was that the amount of the powerful back-and-forth of White and Black magic in the war devastated the area, including its aether, which allowed Diabolos to come through from the void in the first place- and it was also at that point the Elementals decided White Magic was being abused and sealed it, and the city, away, only allowing Padjal (and the player character, much later) to use White Magic. That might be a mix of some of her own headcanon though, she doesn't remember for sure, but it sounds pretty solid to me so I'm sharing it here. Take it with a grain of salt. But basically it sounds like a big, magical apocalypse event which led to the Sixth Umbral Era, and the Lost City of Amdapor is basically ground zero of the fallout. Sounsyy will probably roll by this thread eventually, or someone else with a more competent grasp on the lore than I have :X
As for how survivable it is- something that really struck me about the dungeon, at least in the area where you first enter, is that it looks a whole lot like a scene at the beginning of Hayao Miyazaki's Nausicaa of the Valley of the Wind (at least the movie, I forget where the manga starts exactly, but the same scene I believe) where a village has been overtaken by the "Toxic Jungle", a forest of enormous fungus spreading across the world, inhabited by... you guessed it, giant insects. In Nausicaa, as long as you don't go too deep into the Jungle, you can survive the toxic spores by wearing what are essentially gas masks, so if you ever have an IC trek into Amdapor your characters could employ something similar to that. Breathing in the spores without a mask would result in hella hemorrhaging of the lungs and a painful death. Not sure if Amdapor's spores are that extreme, though. NPCs don't really mention it, so probably not, but if it'd make the RP more dramatic and exciting, hey.
I also noticed the similarities between the Amdapor and Nausicaa (one of my favorite movies/manga). It quickly became one of my favorite dungeons. The idea of RPing with a gas mask is a really good one. If you have the goblin mask, you could probably use that.
RE: Lost City of Amdapor Lore - rainichan - 08-22-2015
Something else of note; I don't think Fernehalwes (aka Koji Fox) was explicit that it was solely the Mhachi that survived the flood (or I misread.) There's also a bunch of speculation that the new 24man raid looks a lot like the interior of the Lost City. While it's doubtful it IS of Amdapori origin, it's fun to speculate. If it IS, however then they would have had ways to escape the flood.
But with Ferne's vagueness on who survived the flood beyond the obvious Nymians (at least the ones who were Tonberry'd and lost their rancor,) it gives way for who else could have in that time.
Also, to note, it wasn't until 3.0 that the mysterious third nation for the War of the Magi was known. The Scholar questline actually talked about how the Nymians were cursed and who did it. The Black Mage questline references the War of the Magi in the 56 quest I think it was.
Zhai'a Nelhah: "Fighting destructive power with more destructive power... It's such thinking that led to the War of the Magi. I'm sure I needn't remind you of the outcome of that war."
Lalai: "The War of the Magi... I suppose I cannot blame him for seeing the parallels. A war between forces commanding unimaginably destructive magical power. But black magic is not purely to blame. It was the violent confluence of black and white magic that ultimately led to disaster."
Bit off the subject of the Amdapori people, but it does relate to them.
RE: Lost City of Amdapor Lore - LiadansWhisper - 08-23-2015
Don't forget that apparently SCORES of Amdapori were lost in the effort to contain Diabolos and his minions. There may not have been many left to survive the flood, given the situation Amdapori was in at the time.
RE: Lost City of Amdapor Lore - rainichan - 08-23-2015
It depends on how big the nation was, if there were others beyond the city that they lived in. Since the elementals wiped it clean, we're not sure of any outlying villages/towns that they could have been in, where the main hub was the bigger city. Afaik it's vague on how many actually fought to Diabolos, beyond it took a lot of them to seal him and his rampage. I'm likely mistaken, but I'll see if I can dig up on whether or not it was said that some actually fled the city and made their way elsewhere - I thought that was said, but I want to make sure I'm not remembering info incorrectly. :/a
RE: Lost City of Amdapor Lore - LiadansWhisper - 08-23-2015
(08-23-2015, 11:34 PM)rainichan Wrote: It depends on how big the nation was, if there were others beyond the city that they lived in. Since the elementals wiped it clean, we're not sure of any outlying villages/towns that they could have been in, where the main hub was the bigger city. Afaik it's vague on how many actually fought to Diabolos, beyond it took a lot of them to seal him and his rampage. I'm likely mistaken, but I'll see if I can dig up on whether or not it was said that some actually fled the city and made their way elsewhere - I thought that was said, but I want to make sure I'm not remembering info incorrectly. :/a
Well, it was war...and it was a bloody, brutal war. Â It stands to reason that even outlying areas would have been affected. Â We don't know how many the war killed/maimed/etc, either.
I really hope there are some lore drops. Â
RE: Lost City of Amdapor Lore - rainichan - 08-23-2015
Sure, but even in war there's always a chance of people escaping elsewhere before they're wiped out. I know it's at least speculated (if it's outright said, I'll find it) that the Amdapori people were able to "alter the fabric of existence itself." So if that is true, there would have been a way for some to survive. If they ever tell us how they sealed Diabolos, that would certainly help.
It's kind of Schrodinger's Cat right now until more is elaborated, which... with the direction they're going, I think they will be.
I'm hoping for a HM version of the Lost City myself with more lore and all in the coming 3.x series. Don't fail me now, lore team...!Edit: Yup, right in the quest text for Amdapor Keep is where mention of their power (or perceived power) was. "Once, the lost civilization of Amdapor thrived in the Twelveswood, her citizens wielders of powerful, yet forbidden magicks which could be used to alter the very fabric of existence." So assuming that's true, it could be reasoned that some might have teleported themselves out of the Twelveswood elsewhere to also escape the persecution anyone claiming to be mages/magic practitioners came into later during the Sixth Umbral Era.
RE: Lost City of Amdapor Lore - LiadansWhisper - 08-24-2015
(08-23-2015, 11:59 PM)rainichan Wrote: Edit: Yup, right in the quest text for Amdapor Keep is where mention of their power (or perceived power) was. "Once, the lost civilization of Amdapor thrived in the Twelveswood, her citizens wielders of powerful, yet forbidden magicks which could be used to alter the very fabric of existence." So assuming that's true, it could be reasoned that some might have teleported themselves out of the Twelveswood elsewhere to also escape the persecution anyone claiming to be mages/magic practitioners came into later during the Sixth Umbral Era.
Remember, in most cases, to teleport somewhere you have to have been there before. Â Otherwise, you could end up in the side of a mountain or some such.
Unless they used Flow.  In which case...  ¯\(°_o)/¯
RE: Lost City of Amdapor Lore - rainichan - 08-24-2015
Completely possible! If they were all about forbidden magics, or things that they conjured (heh) up, that could have done it. Or, it could have been whatever Grandpa Elf did at the end of 1.0 to throw the 1.0 WoL 5 years ahead. Lots of possibilities that I really want the answers to.
RE: Lost City of Amdapor Lore - rainichan - 08-24-2015
Double posting because I think it's interesting: the official track name (in English) for Lost City of Amdapor's dungeon music is "The Scars of Battle." My rusty, really basic translation of the Japanese name got me "Demonic War's Scars ~Corrupted Ancient Ruins of Amdapor City~" (if anyone has a better time in translating, the full JP track name is: é”大戦ã®å‚·è·¡ ～è…æ•—éºè·¡ å¤ã‚¢ãƒ ダプール市街～, romanji'd down to madaisen no kizuseki ~ fuhai iseki inishi amudapu-ru shigai~)
Also, the scenes shown for the track played for the Diabolos fight (and, interestingly enough - and I didn't realize it until I saw the bosses associated with the battle theme - the fight with Ferdiad and Avere) are for when you fight voidsent bosses in a dungeon. The track in English is interestingly called "Wrath of the Eikons" ("Angry Gods" in Japanese - that was an easy translation.) While that is a totally different discussion in the vein of "was it just a convenient naming scheme or were they actually gods?" it does make someone wonder if the Mhachi were powerful enough to summong gods into existence... so if that were the case, maybe the legends of the Amdapori being able to pretty much control time and space weren't just legend after all.
Edit: looks like Wrath of the Eikons was an Uematsu track, so likely used in 1.0, but I'm not sure where.
RE: Lost City of Amdapor Lore - Sounsyy - 08-24-2015
(08-24-2015, 10:13 PM)rainichan Wrote: Edit: looks like Wrath of the Eikons was an Uematsu track, so likely used in 1.0, but I'm not sure where.
I know it was used in a few other places in 1.0, but I knew for sure where it first appeared in 1.0:
Ifrit Summoning