(09-28-2016, 10:52 PM)Kellach Woods Wrote: 1) Be aware Alexander existed in the first place. (Obviously)Oddly enough, those aren't really hefty requirements if you think about it.
2) Have sufficient Summoning knowledge to know of Trance. (Again, obviously)
3) Have the ability to identify and sift through "Alexander" tainted aether.
#1: Anyone who has been through the Hinterlands has probably seen the kinda-really-big robot in a shield taking up a large portion of the Thaliak River. Gogon himself has been way back when Alex was still in its first stages - on an IC delve of Gubal Library. Several others have done similar delves, or even just visited Idyllshire... so it's not without reason that they might've seen the Primal and gone "Well, what's all this then?"
#2: A bit trickier, but I mentioned that there's a lot of Trancing going on at the Runestone. Taking any of that in character, the reasons for how said people gained the traits, would provide knowledge of Trancing. That notwithstanding, there's enough character cleaving more closely to the events of the SMN quest line that interacting with a couple of them could again provide the necessary knowledge. Gogon, for example, is a hoarder of knowledge and has a particular interest in Arcanima since it's the one type of magic he can do. He has had at least three people provide him information on Trancing - and two give a demonstration (Bahamut and Ramuh respectively) - even before witnessing those who do it all the time at the Runestone.
#3: This one is a good sticking point, though. Recognizing the aether - especially if the time warping diffuses it across all of Hydaelyn (or even the universe - you're changing TIME, after all) - could be horrendously difficult. It could be spread so thin that it's effectively nonexistent. Identifying it and taking in enough of it to allow for the manifestation of an Egi or for Tracing would likely be nigh impossible... if you weren't at ground zero. I would postulate that the tainted aether would be at its thickest and most identifiable near the site of the time flux. So, if you were near the Thaliak River when the time loop was fulfilled... you're probably in a good spot to take in that tainted aether. Otherwise the only other time you could submerse yourself in it is during the battles inside Alexander itself.
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