Though this pertains to lore, rather than gameplay, I feel like it belongs more in this thread as it is not directly RP-related, nor is it IC like the Rattlepack Guide.
There's been a lot of debate lately about subjects pertaining to Gridanian culture, and in particular their xenophobia/racism, the role of elementals in shaping this culture, and the degree to which elementals actually hold power. I would know, having been at the heart of this. But I do quite dislike debates in which the parties involved cannot cite sources for their information.
So I undertook an endeavor. Over the course of an evening, I walked across the Black Shroud, and talked to every NPC. South Shroud, East Shroud, Central Shroud, North Shroud, Gridania. I revisited the handful of ARC and CNJ cutscenes available to me in the inn, and the cutscenes from the Sylph-related leg of the main story plot. But having started out in Limsa Lominsa, and having not played any of the Gridania-based classes past level 20 or so, I was limited to primarily screencapping just the conversations available to any player talking to the NPCs in towns, outside dungeons, and scattered about at the various spires in the Shroud. I also took the time to go over the text for dungeons, guildhests, and levequests in the region, though those were once again limited by my levels in the relevant classes.
The results were interesting- I gathered around one hundred and sixty screencaps of various relevance to the elementals, Gridanian culture, and xenophobia. Obviously, I cannot dump every last one of them in this thread or really anywhere else, but I'm curious: are people interested in seeing the sum total of easily-accessed information regarding these things compiled into one place?
Additionally, I took some time to gather information regarding primals, beast tribes, and aether. These are a bit less extensive, due to the fact that a portion of relevant dialogue is in plot conversations not covered by the cutscenes available for rewatching at the inn, and the beast tribe research was limited by my decision to survey the Black Shroud specifically. But there is some very interesting information there, especially when some of the text from the SMN quest line is taken into consideration.
There's been a lot of debate lately about subjects pertaining to Gridanian culture, and in particular their xenophobia/racism, the role of elementals in shaping this culture, and the degree to which elementals actually hold power. I would know, having been at the heart of this. But I do quite dislike debates in which the parties involved cannot cite sources for their information.
So I undertook an endeavor. Over the course of an evening, I walked across the Black Shroud, and talked to every NPC. South Shroud, East Shroud, Central Shroud, North Shroud, Gridania. I revisited the handful of ARC and CNJ cutscenes available to me in the inn, and the cutscenes from the Sylph-related leg of the main story plot. But having started out in Limsa Lominsa, and having not played any of the Gridania-based classes past level 20 or so, I was limited to primarily screencapping just the conversations available to any player talking to the NPCs in towns, outside dungeons, and scattered about at the various spires in the Shroud. I also took the time to go over the text for dungeons, guildhests, and levequests in the region, though those were once again limited by my levels in the relevant classes.
The results were interesting- I gathered around one hundred and sixty screencaps of various relevance to the elementals, Gridanian culture, and xenophobia. Obviously, I cannot dump every last one of them in this thread or really anywhere else, but I'm curious: are people interested in seeing the sum total of easily-accessed information regarding these things compiled into one place?
Additionally, I took some time to gather information regarding primals, beast tribes, and aether. These are a bit less extensive, due to the fact that a portion of relevant dialogue is in plot conversations not covered by the cutscenes available for rewatching at the inn, and the beast tribe research was limited by my decision to survey the Black Shroud specifically. But there is some very interesting information there, especially when some of the text from the SMN quest line is taken into consideration.