The devs said that essentially, while time flows in the real world, it's been 1572 in Eorzea this entire time. Kind of like the endless staircase in Mario 64. My character had not been RP'd in 1.0, but I will still technically be aging him. He was 14 in 1572, and will be 19 in ARR. For those of you who are worried about the destruction of the city states... he did a poor job even before the reconstruction of certain places. Just a bit of... educated speculation. Your characters should be fine in the cities.
