(11-19-2016, 07:16 AM)Valence Wrote: What prevents the main miqo'te migration to happen out of Meracydia during the Endless Frost, while another happens in Ilsabard, at the same time or after, whatever?
The lore book, unfortunately. Here's the full passage on the 5th Umbral Era.
Encyclopedia Eorzea Wrote:As is the case with nearly the entirety of the Fourth Astral Era, the great calamity which would end the period is also shrouded in mystery. Tribal legend and local folklore does, however, speak of a seemingly endless winter that brought with it bitter cold, raging snowstorms, and giant rivers of ice. Without the ability to grow crops, much of the population perished, or was forced to flee to the south and its more temperate climes. It is believed that for the years that encompassed the Fifth Umbral Era - or as it is also known, the Age of Endless Frost - much of the Bloodbrine Sea was frozen solid, on one hand preventing fishing and decimating the populations of sea life, but on the other, allowing for the migration of Miqo'te tribes from southern Ilsabard into northern Eorzea - tribes made up of descendants of the very same Miqo'te who were persecuted against and driven from Eorzea by the Allagan Empire almost two millennia earlier. The newly hardened seas of this frigid era provided the tribes with a means around the massive peaks of Gyr Abania that prevented their return in the Fourth Astral Era, and while there was little awaiting them in the rime-encrusted realm when they arrived, their uncanny ability in the hunt granted them a means of survival until the frost had melted.
It was not long after their return to the realm that the Miqo'te learned of the new Eorzean alphabet. Tribal seers were quick to claim that the fact the number of letters in that alphabet - twenty-six - directly corresponded with the exact number of Seeker of the Sun tribes that had made the journey across the frozen seas was most fortuitous, subsequently convincing the tribes that they should each take one of those letters to its name.
It is not uncommon even today for massive floating islands of ice to appear in the winter moons along Eorzea's northernmost coasts - the Farreach. In the Fifth Umbral Era, however, these frozen mountains were said to have appeared as far south as the Jade Sea.
Miqo'te Naming Conventions Wrote:In the mass exodus which occurred during the Fifth Umbral Era, 26 Seeker of the Sun tribes crossed the seas (which had frozen solid as a result of the Calamity) to Eorzea in search of food and warmer climates. The names of these tribes contained many sounds which were difficult to represent with the existing Eorzean alphabet; but the fact that there were the same exact number of tribes as letters in the Eorzean alphabet was taken as a sign that they were destined to make the new realm their home, and so assigned each tribe with a letter/sound that was closest to its name. Over time, this resulted in the changing of the pronunciation to more closely resemble the pronunciation of the Eorzean letter than that of the original word.
DAT Files Wrote:It is believed the Miqo'te first came to Eorzea during the Fifth Umbral Era, fleeing their ravaged homeland on the southern continent of Meracydia.
Before the lore book, we believed that during the Age of Endless Frost, the entirety of Hydaelyn had succumbed to the freeze. This allowed for us to believe, along with the bottom quote, that Miqo'te fled the war-torn continent of Meracydia north across "frozen seas" to Eorzea and beyond. Notice, however, how the lore book has that tiny blurb about the frozen seas only extending as far south as the Jade Sea. This suggests that the Endless Frost only encompassed the world north and south of Hydaelyn's Tropics of Cancer and Capricorn. Meracydia, which sits closer to Hydaelyn's equator, would've been exempt from these frozen seas.
So now we have one bit of info saying Miqo'te traveled across frozen seas from Meracydia and another which says the Miqo'te only took advantage of the Bloodbrine, Jade, and possibly the Bounty to migrate during this time period. Both passages suggest they were the first and that twenty-six tribes of Seekers made the journey.
Basically, it's a cluster. The only real way to go back and consolidate the two stories would be to snip the bit about how far the ice reached and go back to the previous way of thinking and say all of Hydaelyn was frozen over. Not entirely factual, apparently, but it's what we've got to work with to allow for Miqo'te tribes to travel from Meracydia to southern Eorzea and Miqo'te tribes to travel from the Near East into northwestern Eorzea around the same time.
But like I outlined briefly in the lore book errata thread, the circumstances which brought Miqo'te to Ilsabard in the first place don't really make good sense, so even if we get an official answer retconing the Meracydian tidbit, I'll still be a mite salty trying to justify why Allagan Miqo'te would flee to Ilsabard to escape persecution when Ilsabard was just as Allagan-controlled as Aldenard during this time period. Whereas Meracydia escaped Allagan occupation up until the last 50-odd years of the 3rd Astral Era and any Miqo'te native to there would probably have faced extreme prejudice from their thousand-year-long-war-enemies?
TL;DR- Until we know more, I still fully support Miqo'te being native to Meracydia. Even if it turns out to not be their homeland, it's still very likely that Miqo'te were 1) already native but not migratory from there (see Sophia questline), or 2) had made their way there at some point in history, being noted sailors, hunters, and explorers. 3) Trade exists between Meracydia and Eorzea too, even if the lore book denies it. Just be aware that there is a very real possibility that our long-held belief that Meracydia is the Miqo'te homeland may be retconned entirely.
