Sharlayan Lore Text

Urianger Wrote:We of the Circle are not possessed of the power to quell such quarrels. We can but stir men to wakening with words born of ancient truths. From far to the north and west have we traveled, from a place where knowledge floweth as water from a riverhead. Hither have we come to save this realm from a great sorrow that lieth all too near.

Fernehalwes Wrote:They’re always trying to learn about everything. They went to Eorzea so they could gain knowledge on that place so of course they probably sent parties into Dravania to study up on them and they would have known about the dragons as well. Their whole thing is they’re a city state of knowledge and they gather it and use that knowledge. They send people out everywhere around the world and bring it back to their island nation. Sharlayan in Eorzea was basically an outpost. So saying they weren’t connected would be a lie because it was more to educate people.

The Old World Wrote:Sharlayan is an island nation situated within an archipelago to the north of Eorzea. Like the city-state that its citizens would go on to form in Dravania as a colony of their homeland, Sharlayan is dedicated to scholarly study and the archiving of history. The Forum that governs the nation is a staunch opponent of military intervention, leading to the abandonment of their Eorzean colony in the year 1562 of the Sixth Astral Era after peace talks with the Garlean Empire fell through.

Tales from the Calamity Wrote:Louisoix’s eldest son was an influential member of the Forum, the body responsible for shaping Sharlayan policy, and he, like so many of his colleagues, was a staunch opponent of military intervention. It was, he believed, the duty of his countrymen to chronicle world affairs, not to interfere in them.

When the steel-clad wolves of the Garlean Empire descended upon Ala Mhigo, it was Fourchenault and his fellows who had attempted to parley a peace. In the bitter wake of the failed negotiations, however, they saw no recourse but to forsake the colony they had built within the borders of the war-threatened realm. Following five years of elaborate and painstaking preparation, the plan to evacuate the settlement’s entire population to the northern archipelago of their homeland was put into motion. In the year 1562 of the Sixth Astral Era, the city of Sharlayan—a renowned center of learning, situated in the Dravanian lowlands—became an uninhabited shell in the space of a single night.

Sharlayan Sympathizers (L) Wrote:While the inhabitants of Sharlayan held an abhorrence of our war with the Dravanians, the style of their architecture speaks of more than neutrality. Rumors have spread among the denizens of camp about secret sympathies of the scholars towards the dragons, which was written in code on the walls of their buildings. I find these to be absolute rot, and ask of you to bring back pieces of Sharlayan flagstone so I may put such conspiracies to rest.

Circle of Knowing Wrote:Led by Louisoix, the Circle of Knowing organization was active from Year 1562 of the Sixth Astral Era until the events of the Calamity ten years later. After Louisoix's disappearance, the remnants of the Circle of Knowing combined with the remnants of the Path of the Twelve to form the Scions of the Seventh Dawn.

Sightseeing Vista #029 Wrote:The Arkhitekton
Once home to Sharlayan masters who fashioned aetherytes within its halls, this workshop is now home to the Illuminati, a nasty band of goblins who would wield the ancient technologies within for their own nefarious ends.

Sightseeing Vista #030 Wrote:The Answering Quarter
This Sharlayan settlement stretches across the western banks of the Thaliak. Home to Saint Mocianne's Arboretum and a center for education and scholarly pursuits, it hearkens back to the cities of learning that flourished in bygone times.

Dragonproofing Wrote:I never cease to be impressed by the buildings in Sharlayan, made of sturdy stone and vastly different from the architecture of the Pillars. Ere it was abandoned, the city-state was known for effective fortification techniques to protect their scholars against Horde attacks. Mayhap there is knowledge yet to be found within those walls to fortify our own bulwarks. Journey to the Dravanian hinterlands and bring back samples of Sharlayan flagstone so I may better learn what kind of materials were used.

Sightseeing Vista #031 Wrote:The Cenotaph
A towering monolith erected in tribute to the great scholars who have passed on, leaving behind the knowledge that has shaped the realm. The names of countless men of learning are etched in the mighty stone, along with the motto of Sharlayan: "Knowledge Seeks No Man."

Sightseeing Vista #032 Wrote:The Tipped Ewer
The spot where the melted snows of Abalathia's Spine flow emerge from their source to descend down the mountain, forming the countless tributaries that come together as the mighty Thaliak River. The name is said to come from the deity whose name the river bears and the magicked pitcher from which poured the waters of knowledge.

Yloise Wrote:The Thaliak River is a shining symbol of the Dravanian hinterlands - the great mother who blesses the land with the gift of water. But where the gentle and generous mother brings life, the cruel and merciless father - an oversized crustacean who rules over the Thaliak with an iron claw - brings only death. The great glutton will pounce on anything that moves, and chop up his prey with his tail pincers faster than you can say "ouch." If you don't keep an eye on that tail of his, you'll be feeding the fishes in bite-sized chunks.

Sightseeing Vista #033 Wrote:Great Gubal Library
A massive library constructed by the Sharlayans to house the wealth of knowledge they had amassed in their travels across the realm. Though the vast majority of the tomes that once lined its shelves were carried back to the motherland in the exodus, it is said forbidden texts still slumber in sealed-off vaults below.

The Great Gubal Library Wrote:Built by the learned men and women of Sharlayan, the Great Gubal Library is the grandest repository of knowledge in all of Eorzea. Lining its towering shelves are tomes beyond count, gathered from the farthest reaches of the realm. Like the city-state, however, the library was abandoned by its caretakers when they fled to their motherland in the face of Garlean invasion. And now, fifteen years since its doors were sealed, you will be the first soul to set foot within its halls. Your destination is the forbidden section deep within the library, where lies your objective: the fruits of Matoya’s research on the aetheric converger.

Sightseeing Vista #034 Wrote:The Orn Wild
A primeval forest that stretches across the northern reaches of the Dravanian hinterlands, its rich verdure sustained by the pristine waters of the Thaliak. Nigh untouched by the hand of man, its wilds stand between those who would make their way to Sharlayan without braving a trek across the forelands.

Sightseeing Vista #035 Wrote:Saint Mocianne's Arboretum
This botanical garden built by the Sharlayans once was home to fauna and flora collected from across the realm, the study of which yielded numerous discoveries regarding our natural world. Sadly, it was abandoned in the exodus, the teeming life within left to run wild and unchecked.

Saint Mocianne's Arboretum Wrote:Saint Mocianne's Arboretum once housed the greatest collection of flora and fauna the realm had ever known. Alas, in the wake of the Exodus it was left to the elements, and the wildlife within now roams its halls unchecked and untamed. A band of treasure hunters hopes to brave this leafy labyrinth in search of a cache more valuable than gold, that could ensure Idyllshire's prosperity for years to come. But will their search of this savage garden yield fortune, or end in failure?

Sightseeing Vista #057 Wrote:The Sage's Cataract
As the Thaliak River stretches north towards the Orn Wild, it spills over this grand waterfall. In the past, students would compete to see who could swim closest to the cataract's edge without succumbing to its powerful torrents. A ban on entering the waters was eventually imposes after too many accidents.

Sightseeing Vista #058 Wrote:The Path of Knowing
This colossal bridge was once a bustling artery for researchers, students, and curators commuting to and from the Great Gubal Library. Its stone pillars suffered significant damage when the Calamity reshaped the land, causing a portion of the walkway to crumble and collapse.

Sightseeing Vista #059 Wrote:The Daggers
An area of the hinterlands where clusters of stone columns shaped like daggers protrude from the earth. The scholars of Sharlayan had long been engulfed in a heated debate over whether the name was too simple and colloquial, but a different one was never decided upon as the proposals began to exceed the columns in number.

Yloise Wrote:Time and again, the residents of Idyllshire have come under attack from a huge, hairy beastkin - imagine if you crossed a Roegadyn with an opo-opo, and had it row a ten-tonze galley for a twelvemoon. I scoured the Sharlayan annals for a record of such a monster, and finally found it - it's a Gigantopithecus, a fierce beast native to the tropical jungles of the Cieldalaes. It was brought here as a youngling by a Sharlayan scholar, who raised it in a specially constructed glasshouse in some vain attempt to research its ecology. But when the exodus came, the callow whelp didn't think of taking his pet with him. Now it falls to the Clan to pick up the pieces.

Yloise Wrote:You'll never guess who put the bounty on Stolas's head - it was sent by a Sharlayan astrologian, all the way from his homeland across the seas. He lived here before the exodus, conducting his scholarly experiments. In one such trial, he used his magicks to bind an owl to him as a familiar. The test succeeded, but by some quirk of fate, the owl gained a prodigious intelligence, outstripping even that of its master. But when the exodus came, the owl revolted. It attacked its master, stole a tome of forbidden knowledge, and escaped into the hinterlands. It seems the tome contains secrets of such cataclysmic power that, for the safety of the realm, this owl cannot be suffered to live.

Yloise Wrote:Another request sent by a Sharlayan scholar from the safety of his homeland. The fellow's uncovered an ancient prophecy, saying that in the end of days, a deathly knight will rise from the grave and bring death and destruction to Dravania atop an ashen steed. If the scholar is right, and this "end of days" does indeed refer to the Seventh Umbral Calamity, then this supernatural horseman should already be among us, but I don't see any death and destruction around here. Well, no more than normal, anyway... Honestly, I think it's all a pile of chocobo plop. There was an adventurer passed through the other day, said she'd seen a headless horseman out in the hinterlands when she was hunting for treasure... but believe you me, you can trust those looters as far as you can throw them!

Krile Baldesion Wrote:We had forests* like these on the Isle of Val. My grandfather and I used to go for walks together when I could prise him away from his work.

*Krile says this quote while walking through the chocobo forest, which consists largely of caelumtrees, tall alpine trees with large exposed roots and bear edible fruit. These trees. while once believed to have thrived only in marshlands such as Yafaem and other waterlogged areas, have now adapted to alpine climates and rocky soil. I think Krile's description of caelumtree forests being common on the Isle of Val, as well as its geographical location, are the best indicators of its biome, which is likely either Alpine or perhaps Taiga.

Sightseeing Log #013 Wrote:Tailfeather
Founded by hunters who came to the frontiers in hopes of snaring the wild chocobos of the forest, this settlement and those who call it home are shielded from the eyes of the dragons by the canopy of the majestic caelumtrees that rise high above it.

Caelumtree Root Wrote:A segment of the hard exposed root of a caelumtree. Scholars of botany are unclear as to why such a large portion of the caelumtree's roots grow above ground in a similar fashion to the mangroves of Mor Dhona, despite the lack of marsh-like conditions in the Dravanian forelands. Some, however, have concluded that the area must once have been submerged in water for an extended period of time─a time in which the trees adapted. And though the waters have receded, the roots remain the same.

Ripe Caelumtree Fruit Wrote:Though slightly bruised from its long fall, this caelumtree fruit appears ready to eat.

Krile Baldesion Wrote:Regrettably, the Students of Baldesion's headquarters - and the Isle of Val itself - were obliterated by a magick of immense power.

Gamerescape Wrote:Q: We’re told that the Sharlayans helped rebuild the aetherytes in A Realm Reborn, but a long time ago, like 2010, we were told that those aetherytes were there when people arrived and perhaps that’s why they chose to settle. Who made those?

MCKF: Nobody knows! Even the Sharlayans don’t know. Maybe it was the Allag, maybe it was people before that. It could have been a lot of people. They were there, they were useful, and after people come back to rebuild after Calamities, they rebuilt around these useful things. Sharlayan was able to adapt it, but they have no idea who created it. In the Dravanian hinterlands, there’s actually an aetheryte factory. I don’t think it’s named on the map, but go look for it.

Lore Lowdown Wrote:The aetherytes currently found in each of the city-states were reconstructed following the Calamity by Sharlayan engineers. These engineers were the only ones who possessed the skill and knowledge necessary to do so, and so they were richly compensated for their services. These are not an original Sharlayan design, but the product of research into existing aetherytes constructed in ancient times by civilizations unknown.

Astrologian Wrote:Ever has man coveted knowledge, and none more so than that of his fate. Thus did he labor to master the skill of foresight—but initial efforts bore little fruit. That is, until he looked to the stars above, which foretell the coming seasons, and learned to read the heavens.

Though this gift is known today as astrology, the people of Sharlayan saw fit to not only read the stars, but to write their movements as well. By attuning their aetherial energies to that of constellations, they learned to wield magicks with heretofore unseen properties. Thus was astromancy born—a new form of magick which grants its users power over fate. Employing a star globe and divining deck in their miraculous deeds, fortune always smiles upon these masters of arcana.

Y'shtola Wrote:The “mark of the sages” is attributed to persons whose knowledge in a given field has been recognized by the Sharlayan scientific community. To bear it is an honor that belongs to the most elite of our scholars.

Fernehalwes Wrote:Publication: The Five Ages─An Eorzean Chronology
Author: Lewphon of Sharlayan, master theologian and astrologist

Penned in the Year 233 of the Sixth Astral Era to weave together the disparate histories of the nations of Eorzea with a common thread─the thread of time.

Old World Fig Wrote:A symbol of long life and femininity, this autumn fruit was originally brought from their home land to Eorzea by the Sharlayans.