Whoooo... I can answer a couple of these, but man, what a list!
Okay, first off:
Okay, firstly, Kan-E-Senna had spoken about these people who came from another realm that defended Eorzea, they look like silhouettes, so I'm guessing basically mystery heroes that defended Eorzea and took so little credit that the Gridanian people (or the Eorzean?) call the Warriors of Light. It seems the people have very high respect for them-
These are the adventurers from 1.0 who went to war at the Battle of Carteneau to stop the Garlean Empire from trying to bring down Dalamud. During the open cinematic or the FFXIV ARR cinematic (End of an Era), you get to see the whole thing go down and, if I'm not mistaken, you'll recognize all the same adventurers from the 1.0 Cinematic. http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=ag2cRTU-Og8 (The Roegadyn Paladin, the Lalafell White mage, the Miqo'te Bard, the male Elezen Black Mage, and the Hyur Marauder. There's also a female Elezen but I'm not entirely sure that I saw her. She might be a Dragoon in End of an Era?)
Louisoix, leader of the Circle of Knowing and a worshipper of the god Thaliak god of wisdom and knowledge, tries to contain Bahamut who burst forth from Dalamud due to the Garleans meddling with the help of the rest of the Circle of Knowing ( http://finalfantasy.wikia.com/wiki/Circle_of_Knowing )who were located at other shrines (The Miqo'te Y'shtola, the Lalafell Papalymo, the Hyur Pugilist Yda with the mask, and the Hyur male Thancred that you asked about further down - Each represents one or another of the gods, I believe, and during 1.0 when you started in whichever of the three main cities, you would run into one of them. The male Hyur was in Ul'dah, the Lalafell and Hyur female were in Gridania, and the Miqo'te was in Limsa Lominsa, I believe). This inevitably fails and in an effort to save as many of the brave adventurers as he can, he basically teleports them through time using Thaliak's power. The NPC who mentions this quest, at least in Ul'dah, goes into telling about how no one can quite recall what happened, only that brave heroes went to fight and there was a lot of devastation.
On the matter of the Circle of Knowing, the only one that doesn't show up in the End of an Era is http://finalfantasy.wikia.com/wiki/Urianger Urianger who looks a lot like, and may be, the masked mage you see in the opening when you first start a character and you're hovering in space. Incidentally, he is a representative of Nymeia, the spinner of fate, so if that -is- him, then it may be connected to the fate that you're subconsciously realizing during the vision.
The Garlean Empire was, originally a small nation that ended up getting a huge technological advancement spearheaded by their, now, Emperor.
Later on, Garlean airships started dropping linkpearls in all the major city states of Aldenard and Vylbrand, stating that the beast tribes of Eorzea are plotting to call their eikons to attack the Empire, and offering protection to all states that accepted to be ruled by the empire and take arms against the beast tribes.
More recently, the Garlean Empire has dispatched legions throughout Eorzea. Units have been engaged in combat within Thanalan, as well as the Black Shroud. One legion, led by the notorious Nael Van Darnus - Legatus of the VIIth Legion - has invaded the Ishgardian stronghold known as the Dzemael Darkhold, securing the vast crystal deposits located inside the caves for Ceruleum harvesting, which then may be used by the Empire to summon their own Primal.
So the reason they brought down Dalamud was to free Bahamut, the primal within it. Basically, they've had it out for the Beastmen and I assume they thought they could control a Primal and use it to devastate the city-states in order to take them over.
About the outfit you see in the beginning is a Bard outfit which is the advanced class for a Hunter. Basically, it's assumed that you were one of the adventurers from the Battle of Carteneau who was preserved (For five years?) by Louisoix's spell. You don't remember this at first, through the story, so you're basically a no-named, amnesia-suffering, adventurer.
That's pretty much all I've got answers for. While you're floating around (which I assume is a dream) I think it's a memory of when you were being teleported. The Crystal is probably related to the gods somehow, and I feel I should know how, but I'm afraid to say because I could be wrong. Q_Q
I chose not to hide these things-- mostly because, for an RPer, some of them may be very important to know, such as the Garlean mess. Sorry about that.
Okay, first off:
Okay, firstly, Kan-E-Senna had spoken about these people who came from another realm that defended Eorzea, they look like silhouettes, so I'm guessing basically mystery heroes that defended Eorzea and took so little credit that the Gridanian people (or the Eorzean?) call the Warriors of Light. It seems the people have very high respect for them-
These are the adventurers from 1.0 who went to war at the Battle of Carteneau to stop the Garlean Empire from trying to bring down Dalamud. During the open cinematic or the FFXIV ARR cinematic (End of an Era), you get to see the whole thing go down and, if I'm not mistaken, you'll recognize all the same adventurers from the 1.0 Cinematic. http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=ag2cRTU-Og8 (The Roegadyn Paladin, the Lalafell White mage, the Miqo'te Bard, the male Elezen Black Mage, and the Hyur Marauder. There's also a female Elezen but I'm not entirely sure that I saw her. She might be a Dragoon in End of an Era?)
Louisoix, leader of the Circle of Knowing and a worshipper of the god Thaliak god of wisdom and knowledge, tries to contain Bahamut who burst forth from Dalamud due to the Garleans meddling with the help of the rest of the Circle of Knowing ( http://finalfantasy.wikia.com/wiki/Circle_of_Knowing )who were located at other shrines (The Miqo'te Y'shtola, the Lalafell Papalymo, the Hyur Pugilist Yda with the mask, and the Hyur male Thancred that you asked about further down - Each represents one or another of the gods, I believe, and during 1.0 when you started in whichever of the three main cities, you would run into one of them. The male Hyur was in Ul'dah, the Lalafell and Hyur female were in Gridania, and the Miqo'te was in Limsa Lominsa, I believe). This inevitably fails and in an effort to save as many of the brave adventurers as he can, he basically teleports them through time using Thaliak's power. The NPC who mentions this quest, at least in Ul'dah, goes into telling about how no one can quite recall what happened, only that brave heroes went to fight and there was a lot of devastation.
On the matter of the Circle of Knowing, the only one that doesn't show up in the End of an Era is http://finalfantasy.wikia.com/wiki/Urianger Urianger who looks a lot like, and may be, the masked mage you see in the opening when you first start a character and you're hovering in space. Incidentally, he is a representative of Nymeia, the spinner of fate, so if that -is- him, then it may be connected to the fate that you're subconsciously realizing during the vision.
The Garlean Empire was, originally a small nation that ended up getting a huge technological advancement spearheaded by their, now, Emperor.
Later on, Garlean airships started dropping linkpearls in all the major city states of Aldenard and Vylbrand, stating that the beast tribes of Eorzea are plotting to call their eikons to attack the Empire, and offering protection to all states that accepted to be ruled by the empire and take arms against the beast tribes.
More recently, the Garlean Empire has dispatched legions throughout Eorzea. Units have been engaged in combat within Thanalan, as well as the Black Shroud. One legion, led by the notorious Nael Van Darnus - Legatus of the VIIth Legion - has invaded the Ishgardian stronghold known as the Dzemael Darkhold, securing the vast crystal deposits located inside the caves for Ceruleum harvesting, which then may be used by the Empire to summon their own Primal.
So the reason they brought down Dalamud was to free Bahamut, the primal within it. Basically, they've had it out for the Beastmen and I assume they thought they could control a Primal and use it to devastate the city-states in order to take them over.
About the outfit you see in the beginning is a Bard outfit which is the advanced class for a Hunter. Basically, it's assumed that you were one of the adventurers from the Battle of Carteneau who was preserved (For five years?) by Louisoix's spell. You don't remember this at first, through the story, so you're basically a no-named, amnesia-suffering, adventurer.
That's pretty much all I've got answers for. While you're floating around (which I assume is a dream) I think it's a memory of when you were being teleported. The Crystal is probably related to the gods somehow, and I feel I should know how, but I'm afraid to say because I could be wrong. Q_Q
I chose not to hide these things-- mostly because, for an RPer, some of them may be very important to know, such as the Garlean mess. Sorry about that.
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