Ul'dah Lore
-The Syndicate
-Ul'dahn Nobility Lore

Lettice Wrote:It is the thaumaturges of the Order of Nald'thal who write Ul'dah's laws. You had best not breach them, or you may see the "other side" they preach of sooner than you wish. Guard your tongue at all times, lest you mean to be chased out of the city as the sylphs once were. And be especially wary when speaking of the Garleans or the beast tribes. These are both sensitive subjects to the thaumaturges. It may not be too much to say that getting on with the thaumaturges is the secret to success here in Ul'dah, such is their influence. You'd do well to remember that.

Sinette Wrote:They are called the twins, Nald and Thal. Or at times, the Traders. All of reality is governed by their two aspects, and they hold a ceaseless vigil to ensure order is maintained.

Long ago, our city itself was split into two great sections, to mirror this truth. As a great teacher of mine once said, microcosm recapitulates macrocosm. We have since merged, and prospered for it. Perhaps the gods will someday mirror us.

Erasmus Wrote:Belah'dian civilization flourished in relative peace until twin sons were born to the royal family. The two were fierce rivals, and when they came of age and their father passed, each one claimed that he was the rightful heir to the throne. With neither son willing to relinquish his claim, they agreed to split their kingdom in two, forming the twin nations of Ul'dah and Sil'dih. But not unlike the two proud princes, the sibling nations developed a penchant for rivalry...

Erik Wrote:Sil'dih was plunged into chaos in the wake of King Lalawefu's demise─or the King of Springs, as he was known. Despite the success of his economic reforms, the tax increases he imposed did not sit well with his subjects. This, coupled with a prolonged sequence of untimely droughts, fomented unrest among the people and in time sparked violent unrest throughout the kingdom.

Sil'dih was not alone in its want for water. Ul'dah, too, felt the effects of the droughts. The sultan at the time, Sasagan Ul Sisigan─ Ah! But perhaps you recognize the Ul name? The current sultana, Nanamo Ul Namo, represents the second Ul dynasty. She is Sasagan's distant descendant. Now...where was I? Ah, yes! Right, so, Sasagan ordered an attack on Sil'dih to claim the water resources discovered as a result of Lalawefu's flood control acts.

But the royalty and nobility of Sil'dih would not remain idle. They mobilized their nation in the face of this crisis, and the people fought with great tenacity against the Ul'dahn threat. The full strength of both nations met in battle, and the end result was an arduous protracted conflict. Though arguably more desirable than surrender, the ruling Sil'dihn elite took little pleasure in having succeeded in uniting the theretofore querulous citizenry to fight. For despite all they accomplished, every day spent waging war dragged the nation's financial affairs─which you will recall had only just been brought under control─back into the mire.

To bring an end to the long military deadlock, Sil'dih devised and set about implementing a perverse yet ambitious strategy. It sought to zombify the deceased among its army, that they might fight again. At first, it appeared to have worked. Yet at the height of hostilities, the Sil'dihns lost control over their necrotic creations. The undead turned on their masters, and before long the zombification had spread to a majority of the population.

Ever knowing an opportunity when they saw one, the Ul'dahns grasped this turn of events to justify their war─now proclaiming it a crusade to send these zombies to Thal. After seeing to the extermination of all zombies outside the city, they then sealed the gates of Sil'dih, entrapping both the living and dead within.

Vista #17 Wrote:The Ruins of Sil'dih
The city-states of Ul'dah and Sil'dih coexisted for generations until 400 years ago when bad blood festering betwixt the two sultanates culminated in the War of the Sisters - leaving Sil'dih a smoldering pile of rubble to be claimed by the shifting desert sands. The subsequent relocation of Ul'dah placed the city-state nearly directly above her fallen sibling.

Yayaroku Wrote:As the histories tell it, the battles fought between the sister nations were the stuff of nightmares. In a desperate attempt to overcome Ul'dah's superior numbers, Sil'dihn alchemists devised a most horrific strategem. Employing a frightful formula known as the Trader's Spurn, they brought their fallen allies back from Thal's realm. Some theories have it that they even employed the potion on those of the living who were too weak or wounded to fight.

Limsa Lore
-Admirals of Limsa Lominsa
-Maelstrom and Yellowjacket Lore

Tatasako Wrote:Pirates in an uproar over the new Admiral? Hah! If they don't like her, then all they have to do is beat her in the next Trident. If they can't do that, then they should crawl back into their holes and keep quiet until they grow the stones to stand up to her!

Grynewyda Wrote:Merlwyb’s forcing pirates to trade their swords for plowshares and start anew on land. Far be it from me to question the Admiral, but how can a man who has spent his entire life reaping be taught to sow?

Gerald Wrote:Thus it was that Admiral Merlwyb outlawed piracy, and put out a call for all citizens of Limsa Lominsa, pirate or not, to present a united front to their enemies. A pact known as the Galadion Accord was signed, and the nation went to war against the Empire. As part of this agreement, the three great pirate powers- the Bloody Executioners, the Sanguine Sirens, and the Kraken’s Arms -were issued leave to raid the vessels of the Garleans.

Thosinbaen Wrote:For every item we confiscate, there is sure to be a complaint to follow. I cannot blame most of these poor folk though. Since taking the Admiral's chair, our new leader has doubled the number of items on the restricted list, and more are added every day. One cannot expect every trader and ship captain to stay current on the latest amendments.

Kokoto Wrote:Only a pirate would permit the establishment of a pub right below the legislative offices of a city-state. You didn't know? We're standing beneath the "Bridge", thalassocratic headquarters and office of Limsa Lominsa's ruler, known as the Admiral--though she's no more than a pirate with a fancy title, like all her predecessors for as long as anyone can remember.

Gridanian Lore
-Seedseers
-Nobility in Eorzea (Gridanian Gentry is covered in this post, might be of interest.)
-Conjurer and Padjal Lore Compilation
-Primarily Woodsin Lore (However some Gridanian beliefs are brought up in post.)

Kinnison Wrote:Beyond here lies the Lotus Stand, where three Seedseers hold counsel. They are rarely to be found here, however, as their days are spent in the forest, hearkening to the whispers of the elementals.

Nonolato Wrote:We are the Gods' Quiver, and our will is that of the elementals-to punish all who would visit harm upon the Twelveswood.

Wybir Wrote:Poachers, bandits, fugitives... We get all manner of ne'er-do-wells encroaching from beyond the trees. The Gods' Quiver toils to keep such villains from stealing into the Twelveswood. It falls to the Wood Wailers to oust those already within. Our two groups ordinarily act in concert with the conjurers of Stillglade Fane, an arrangement born of custom and necessity both.

Nonco Menanco Wrote:Gridania's guilds share a comradery unlike any I have seen elsewhere. The manner in which they aid one another is truly inspiring. It goes beyond mere unity on the battlefield. They provide for one another in times of piece, as well—giving whatever they can, and taking only what they need. All of Eorzea could learn much from their example.

Despite Conjurers making up the bridge between the will of the elementals and the laws of the people, conjurers themselves are not immune to breaking the will of the elementals.

O'dhinek Wrote:Words travel fast in the wood, friend─faster than you by far. Our scouts found the corpses of the Ixal you sent to meet their maker. Let us pray it is enough to quench the vengeance of the elementals. When their fury is on them, there is no safety to be had in the wood─not even for those of us who fight to protect it.

The beast tribes are as different from us as night from day─plain and simple. There's no sense trying to understand them, much less live side by side. And a swift exile from Gridania awaits any who hold otherwise. Aye, we had a healer years ago who found that out to his cost. Seemed a good enough sort...until the day he tended to the wounds of an injured bloody Ixal, citing “the healers' oath” or some such nonsense. What could possibly bring a man to take pity on that filth?

Ala Mhigo Lore

Monks and the Fist of Rhalgr Wrote:The monks and the Fist of Rhalgr are interesting in the same way as any other organized relgion - a sad, pathetic, and humorous way. The brothers and sisters of the monkhood are those souls training in the service of Rhalgr, god of destruction among the Twelve. The Fist of Rhalgr is their order.

This barbaric cult traces its origins back several centuries to Ala Mhigo. The Fist teaches those foolish enough to listen that through rigorous training of the mind and body, and with constant invigoration and refinement, one can approach the sublimity of Rhalgr Himself. Such is their power of concentration that they are able to master the aether within their bodies and channel it in a manner that grants them immense destructive power. The monkhood insists on calling this internal essence "spiritual energy" or "life force" - but trust me when I say it is nothing other than aether.

Endowed with this brutish, unthinking gift for hitting things very hard, the entire cult has evolved into a sort of clergy with martial proclivities. This was no doubt a result of their main temple being located in Gyr Abania - a region plagued by warfare where knowing how to protect oneself is essential.

As the years passed, however, what began as a simple group of religious fanatics fighting to protect themselves grew into an ambitious organization of religious fanatics taking part in the region's power struggles. Those in power in Ala Mhigo grew wary of these war priests who proclaimed all their fights to be fought in the name of a god, and who employed deadly force without the slightest hesitation. And so, rather than make enemies of the monks, they decided instead to use them to their benefit.

Through affiliation with the Ala Mhigan royal family, the Fist of Rhalgr was incorporated into the nation's standing army. This not only granted the monks a great deal of power, but furnished them with all of the rights accorded protectors of the citizenry. And their political influence was still growing...

The fate of the Fist of Rhalgr Wrote:I confess I find great joy in studying the demise of a religion - and even greater joy in recounting it!

The power of the Fist of Rhalgr grew unchecked in Ala Mhigo, and it was eventually named the state religion. After this, its influence over political, economic, and cultural spheres of life became even more considerable. Needless to say, this did not sit well with one and all. Among them was the last and most ugsome of Ala Mhigan royalty, the King of Ruin - Theodoric. The rise of the Fist meant a potential rival for power, and he would not suffer the monkhood to encroach on his prerogatives.

To counter their claims of religious righteousness, he simply conjured his own out of thin aether, proclaiming that the throne was his by divine right, given him by the word of Nymeia Herself - wife to Rhalgr. He then banned worship and likenesses of Rhalgr and all other gods, and demanded that the prayers and praises of Ala Mhigo be given to Nymeia and Her alone. In doing so, he sought to establish his own absolute, uncontested rule.

Naturally, the Fist and other worshipers of Rhalgr throughout the nation rose in protest, precisely as Theodoric had known they would. He used the uprisings as a pretext to imprison several high-ranking monks, whom he then tortured until they confessed their order's plans to topple his rule. In 1552 of the Sixth Astral Era, Theodoric led a vast army to the site of the monkhood's main temple and surrounded it. Monks, novices, and devotees, including the elders; refugees seeking shelter after the fires of war had turned their homes to ash; servants and peasants hired to do no more than till the fields - none were left alive. The monks fought heroically, but were hopelessly outnumbered. With the massacre of that day, nearly all of the monkhood perished.

The elders, the keepers of the tradition and its knowledge, resided within the temple grounds. It was thought that all versed in the ways of the chakra were lost... But then what of this Widargelt? Just who is he? Perhaps the end of the Fist was not the end of the monks, after all.

The last king of Ala Mhigo Wrote:As I likely explained if you have ever bothered to ask me about monks and the Fist of Rhalgr, the King of Ruin, Theodoric, was a ruthless despot and tyrant. It should come as no surprise, then, that he was the last king of Ala Mhigo. But the tale of his rise and fall is the stuff we historians live for!

Theodoric's lust for power was such that nothing less than absolute rule would appease him. To counter the political influence of the Fist of Rhalgr, he proclaimed his kingship to be the product of divine will - ordained by Nymeia Herself. What followed was a crusade which sought to exterminate the monks entirely. Yet it was the truly depraved acts of barbarism to come that would shake Ala Mhigan society to its very core. This ensuing era of terror was what earned Theodoric the title "King of Ruin."

After the massacre at the Fist's main temple, religious opposition to Theodoric nearly disappeared altogether. He then began purges of the Ala Mhigan royalty, seeing any and all potential pretenders to his throne dead and buried - regardless of house, loyalties, or standing. Beheadings were commonplae, carried out daily. Before long, it looked as though Theodoric would have no heads left to take. But he then turned his wrath upon any soul with a claim to the throne, no matter how remote. After that, it was to be the empowered nobles and wealthy merchants.

Fearing for their lives, they professed their innocence to the queen, pleading for her to stay her maniacal husband's hand. She attempted words to assuage his lust for power turned lust for blood, but he was deaf to her appeals. Finding no recourse, she conspired with a group of nobles to murder Theodoric. Yet before the regicide could take place, one among them betrayed their plot and for their treason, the king saw them all less a head.

This only served to compound Theodoric's paranoia and insanity. Distrustful of all, his purges now became little more than random executions, claiming lives of noble and beggar and all in between. It is not difficult to imagine what transpired next. The palace became a despicable gathering of sycophants and backstabbers, and the commonfolk scarce left their homes. Seeking heads on which to lay blame for worsening conditions, Theodoric turned the axe upon his most loyal followers. When the oppression became too much to ear, the people revolted and stormed the palace. The royal guard (Corpse Brigade) cast aside their vows and allowed the Ala Mhigans to pass.

A noble revolt? For the best, no? False! It was the absence of leadership and solidarity in the wake of this chaos that prompted Garlemald to attack! In the end, Theodoric was lucid enough to judge suicide preferable to death at the hands of an angry mob. He ended his own life, and with it, his reign of ruin and his own bloodline. Or so it was thought at the time! But Theodred, a nephew to the king, was hidden by his mother in a remote temple of the Fist of Rhalgr which had survived the purges, and thus he escaped his uncle's fury.

Garlemald Lore
-The Rise and Fall of the White Raven

Lodestone Wrote:Until some fifty years ago, Garlemald was a remote and sparsely populated nation which held little more than a fraction of the northern continent of Ilsabard. But with the arrival of a technological golden age and the concurrent emergence of a brilliant young legatus—now the reigning emperor—in the span of a single generation Garlemald established itself as one of the most formidable forces in all of Hydaelyn.

Lodestone Wrote:Born of distinguished lineage in the Garlemald Republic, Solus zos Galvus began his military career at a young age. After a string of impressive victories on the field of battle, however, he soon attained the rank of Legatus, and proceeded to integrate machina technology into the army's regular rank and file. With single-minded determination, Galvus transformed his fledgling nation into a formidable military power.

His actions garnered the undivided support of the citizenry, and catapulted him into the position of Dictator, supreme commander of Garlemald. In the years that followed, Garlean forces conquered all the lands of the north and hammered them into a single entity. Galvus then instituted an imperial regime to govern their new territories, conferring upon himself the title of "Emperor."

The eastern nations were the first to feel the newborn empire's mighty fist. It was during this campaign that the emperor witnessed firsthand the destruction wrought by the primals—an experience that led to an imperial mandate for their annihilation.

Now an old man of more than eighty winters, Galvus yet rules as emperor, but court rumors speak of frail health and frequent illness.

Lodestone Wrote:Legatus of the VIIth Legion presently dispatched to the western front, van Darnus boasts distinguished parentage in his sire, a founding figure of the Garlean Empire. A ruthless man who has risen to infamy even among his own people, he draws no distinction betwixt friend and foe when met with dissent. Tales are oft told in hushed whispers of van Darnus’s swift rise to power upon the abrupt death by illness of his sire, whose body had no sooner grown cold than his closest aides were put to death.

On Garlean Hierarchy Volume 1 Wrote:The rise of the Garlean Empire in the Year 1522 of the Sixth Astral Era led to significant changes in the structure of the Garlean society. This is most evident in the adoption of titles which serve to indicate an individual's place within the social hierarchy. The following information was compiled with the aid of informants within the empire and has yet to be verified:

Royalty
Zos - The emperor
Yae - Member of the royal family in line of succession
Wir - Member of the royal family with no claim to the throne.

Military
Van - Legatus (Commands a Legion)
Tol - Tribunus laticlavius or Tribunus militum (Commands a Cohor)
Sas - Tribunus angusticlavius or Praefectus castrorum (Commands Castrums)
Rem - Primus pilus or Pilus prior (Commands a Manipulus)
Quo - Primi ordines or Centurion (Commands a Centuriae)
Pyr - Optio, Tesserarius, or Decurion (???)
Oen - Duplicarius or Legionarius (Footsoldier?)

Specialists
Nan - Chief engineer or engineer
Mal - Primus medicus or senior magitek technician
Lux - Chief medicus or magitek technician
Kir - Senior medicus or senior technician
Jen - Medicus or technician

On Garlean Hierarchy Volume 2 Wrote:Public Officials
Iyl - Dictator or Princeps senatus
Het - Consul, Praetor, Tribunus plebis, Aedilis, or Quaestor
Goe - Censor
Fae - Unknown
Eir - Unknown
Dus - Lictor

This hierarchy extends to the general populace as well, though it is far less complex. The majority of citizens bear the "Ban" title, and there is a smaller group which appears to be comprised of respected artisans who have adopted the "Cen" title.

The "Aan" title is bestowed upon the peoples of annexed territories and indicates that they lack even the most basic rights afforded to a citizen. However, many Garleans view this as an opportunity rather than a condemnation, as citizenship may be granted to those who have demonstrated exceptional skills, as well as those who have contributed twenty or more years of military service.