(09-24-2014, 07:32 AM)Warren Castille Wrote: Succor has to be permitted to you, correct? Is it a situation where the elementals lend that power to you, or is it that they just don't mind if you reach for it with their permission?
I...it's difficult to answer this question because lore is very hazy on the subject.
In 1.0, Succor is demonstrated to us by Raya-O-Senna (when she uses it to take down an Elemental!), but the Player Character couldn't use Succor until an Elemental named Oha-Sok bestowed the gift upon the PC. In the final WHM quest, "The Chorus of Cataclysm" Oha-Sok actually becomes our White Mage AF robes so that the PC might carry her power wherever the PC went.
This raised quite a few questions at the time. Is our power temporary? Can we only wield succor so long as we are blessed by the Elementals? How many other Elementals are going to sacrifice themselves so people outside of the PC can become White Mages?
In 2.0, things take an even stranger twist. The ghost of an eccentric Elezen Padjal (we didn't even know Elezen Padjal were possible in lore until this guy shows up!) bestows upon the PC his soulstone so that the two younger Senna siblings can use us as a third wheel White Mage, despite the fact that they could have asked E-Sumi-Yan, O-App-Pesi, or their own sister Kan-E-Senna to do the job.
So essentially, because a nutjob Padjal ghost gave you his soulstone, it's a green light for you to be trained in White Magic by the other two Padjal. The Elementals seem to have little to no say in the matter, as the Padjal are literally training you in Succor for the sole purpose of taking out an Elemental.
So...
Succor has to be presented to you? Yes, the gift must be bestowed upon you in some form or fashion before being able to become a White Mage. Whether this is because an Elemental judges you and finds your soul to be pure and incorruptible (1.0) or because a Padjal thought it was a good idea (2.0).
In the case of Aldotsk's new character, her Amdaporian would have received the gift directly from the Elementals (perhaps even born with Succor?). Even though the Elementals summoned the flood to wipe magic off the planet, I don't think her character would have been affected by said flood while locked away within her seal. Similar to how Diabolos seems unperturbed by said events after his seal eventually fades.
I also don't believe that the Elementals would pull her power while inactive just because they believed her dead. Similar to how my 1.0 PC didn't lose her succor just because she went into Louisoux's time warp. Sure I had do the WHM quests over to get Holy back, but I think that's more the "new game" mechanics than lore.
On a tangent... (forgive me) but in both the 1.0 and 2.0 WHM quest lines we are threatened repeatedly that the Elementals can withdraw their gift of succor. Which has led rise to the belief that they can flick it on and off like a switch. However, my observations of the lore don't seem to corroborate this. Quite often in 1.0 (not in 2.0 because SE made Elementals a background flavor instead of a way of life ugh) we see Conjurers and Padjal square off against Elementals using conjury and succor. "Beckon of the Elementals," "Seeds of Initiative," and "The Chorus of Cataclysm" all display Succor being used against the Elementals to great effect.
If, like most people say They can, why don't the enraged Elementals in "The Chorus of Cataclysm" just turn off the PC's access to Succor before finishing her off and unleashing the Greenwrath upon the whole Shroud? We never see them even attempt such things. The only thing angered Elementals attempt to do, is kill the one who angered them. (Or temper him and turn him into a Wildling... but SE doesn't like Elementals so they conveniently left that out of 2.0... ugh)
So I'm starting to think that that threat of having our power "revoked" actually means "if you abuse this gift, we're going to kill you."
