(08-05-2014, 08:52 AM)Lillith Cale Wrote: Don't we two Dragoons in the game itself? Isn't the person who trained you a Dragoon with their own soulstone they pass to you and then, we have the Azure Dragoon themselves? And....don't we technically only take the helmet from the Azure Dragoon? (or whatever the last piece of eq was from the level 50 Dragoon quest. I don't remember xD)
I believe you are referring to Ser Alberic. Alberic was the Azure Dragoon of a previous generation. In (I think) 1562 6AE, Alberic and the Dragon King Nidhogg do battle over a small village called Ferndale. Ser Alberic is ultimately unable to overcome Nidhogg, and the Dragon King razes Ferndale to the ground. This was the last known sighting of Nidhogg. Alberic was so ashamed that he renounces his Dragoon Soulstone and ceases to be the Azure Dragoon. But Nidhogg's Eye had already found another...
There was only one survivor from Ferndale, a boy named Estinien. Nidhogg's Eye chooses Estinien to be Alberic's successor. The irony! Alberic rescues the boy and takes him to Ishgard, where he is trained as a knight. Now jump forward 10 or 15 years (depending on if you did DRG questline in 1.0 or 2.0 respectively) Alberic is an old man and Estinien is the prized and proud Azure Dragoon. However, Nidhogg's Eye begins to corrupt Estinien.
It is unclear why a second Azure Dragoon is chosen during this time period. In 1000 years, Nidhogg has never chosen a second, non-Ishgardian Azure Dragoon. Estinien believes you are meant to fight at his side to finally defeat Nidhogg as Double Dragoons.
As for armor, I'm sure there are tons of replicas. FreelanceWizard just posted an excellent lore link. Thanks for that! Specifically the Drachen Mail is super speshully made so that it can repel Dragon Tempering. So special in fact, that our character has to STEAL Drachen armor from dead dragoons of ages past. Even our Gae Bolg is recycled. This is because our character is not Ishgardian and not recognized as Ishgardian's Azure Dragoon. So nobody crafts us real Drachen Mail or a real Gae Bolg. We have to find our own.
You can kind of take that two ways. You could, with some difficulty, find Drachen Mail in a similar fashion. There are 1000 years worth of Dragoons lying dead out there somewhere. Or, you can purchase replicas from Rowena. These replicas would not have any anti-tempering power though.
