Duskwight help

[syn]

Hello! I've recently returned from a long RP hiatus and am coming back to a fresh start with a new character!

I've decided to play an Elezen and the Duskwight seem to fit in with the direction I want to go with her. 

Reading up on the lore I can find a lot of information about who the Duskwight were but I'm having trouble finding who or where they are now. 

From what I can gather there are essentially Elezen all over since they were the "first" race in Eorzea, but the Duskwight specifically lived in Gelmorra which is now abandoned? 

Did the Duskwight just assimilate in with current culture? Do they still exist in large numbers at all? Are they still the same as before just not in Gelmorra?

 

edit: Oh! And another question I had. Would Duskwight be as educated as their Wildwood cousins? Elezen give off an educated and kind of "I'm above you" air but since the Duskwight have been living in caves and not getting along with folks, would they be considered less intelligent with the passage of time? 

Edited March 2, 2018 by syn

[Unnamed Mercenary]

Elezen being "first" is actually just something the NPCs say. Given that Eorzea's been destroyed by multiple calamities over and over that effectively kill off a massive portion of the population, we don't actually know who's there first, but the Elezen claim it was themselves!

 

You can find a good amount of racial information over in @Sounsyy's Lore Index thread. ...while we get it cleaned up to look nice on the current forums, here's the legacy version: https://ffxiv-roleplayers.com/mybb/showthread.php?tid=17897

 

For a quick Duskwight basics, there are those who stayed in what was formerly Gelmorra as it fell to ruin, and there are those who came to the surface, but as they don't exactly get along with the Elementals in the Black Shroud, they're seen as not welcome in Gridania and are typically looked down upon. Many are poachers or mercenaries, much like the Keeper of the Moon Miqo'te clans that exist in the Black Shroud as well.

[syn]

6 minutes ago, Unnamed Mercenary said:

Elezen being "first" is actually just something the NPCs say. Given that Eorzea's been destroyed by multiple calamities over and over that effectively kill off a massive portion of the population, we don't actually know who's there first, but the Elezen claim it was themselves!

 

You can find a good amount of racial information over in @Sounsyy's Lore Index thread. ...while we get it cleaned up to look nice on the current forums, here's the legacy version: https://ffxiv-roleplayers.com/mybb/showthread.php?tid=17897

 

For a quick Duskwight basics, there are those who stayed in what was formerly Gelmorra as it fell to ruin, and there are those who came to the surface, but as they don't exactly get along with the Elementals in the Black Shroud, they're seen as not welcome in Gridania and are typically looked down upon. Many are poachers or mercenaries, much like the Keeper of the Moon Miqo'te clans that exist in the Black Shroud as well.

Yeah just imagine some big ol' air quotes around the "first" but thank you! I've been diligently reading through all of that actually! 
I think I'm just getting confused on where Duskwight are now but that helps clear it up. So it wouldn't be unreasonable for my character to come from a small group of Duskwight and decide to break off and go out into the world?

[Unnamed Mercenary]

2 minutes ago, syn said:

Yeah just imagine some big ol' air quotes around the "first" but thank you! I've been diligently reading through all of that actually! 
I think I'm just getting confused on where Duskwight are now but that helps clear it up. So it wouldn't be unreasonable for my character to come from a small group of Duskwight and decide to break off and go out into the world?

 

You can totally do that. Like any of the races, they don't all stick to one place, even if that's where their stereotypes would come from. Likewise, many players tend to shy away from Eorzea's IC racisim issues, so you may or may not actually encounter what I'd probably term "Duskwight discrimination" for simply being a Duskwight in the wrong place. The Lancer quests in game touch on this a little bit.

These older threads may have some extra discussion too!

 

https://ffxiv-roleplayers.com/showthread.php?tid=2947

https://ffxiv-roleplayers.com/showthread.php?tid=8599

[Sounsyy]

4 hours ago, syn said:

Reading up on the lore I can find a lot of information about who the Duskwight were but I'm having trouble finding who or where they are now. 

From what I can gather there are essentially Elezen all over since they were the "first" race in Eorzea, but the Duskwight specifically lived in Gelmorra which is now abandoned? 

Did the Duskwight just assimilate in with current culture? Do they still exist in large numbers at all? Are they still the same as before just not in Gelmorra?

 

edit: Oh! And another question I had. Would Duskwight be as educated as their Wildwood cousins? Elezen give off an educated and kind of "I'm above you" air but since the Duskwight have been living in caves and not getting along with folks, would they be considered less intelligent with the passage of time? 

 

Franz has already covered most everything, but I'll add a few things. First, should definitely check out this link to an older post on a very similar question:

 

Like it says in the link, the people known as Duskwights originate in the Black Shroud roughly 500~1000 years ago during the time of Gelmorra, a subterranean city-state of Elezen and Hyur. When Gelmorra eventually fell into disrepair and was abandoned, many Duskwights scattered across Eorzea because they had nowhere else to go. Many stayed in the woods and either found other, smaller caves to dwell in in the wood or they attempted to acclimate to Gridanian life. Duskwights have faced heavy discrimination in the region ever since this clan divide. (Some incredibly rare but notable exceptions include: Amandine Dartancours and Mother Miounne)

 

Because of this discrimination, many Duskwights continued to flee the Shroud and seek life elsewhere. And that's sort of where modern day Duskwights are at right now. Many live across Eorzea, assimilating into other regional cultures, or they were born in the Shroud and grew up discriminated against. Unfortunately, Duskwights don't get much more lore than that and its been a gripe of many an RPer for years. 

 

Hope this helps though!

[syn]

51 minutes ago, Sounsyy said:

 

Franz has already covered most everything, but I'll add a few things. First, should definitely check out this link to an older post on a very similar question:

 

Like it says in the link, the people known as Duskwights originate in the Black Shroud roughly 500~1000 years ago during the time of Gelmorra, a subterranean city-state of Elezen and Hyur. When Gelmorra eventually fell into disrepair and was abandoned, many Duskwights scattered across Eorzea because they had nowhere else to go. Many stayed in the woods and either found other, smaller caves to dwell in in the wood or they attempted to acclimate to Gridanian life. Duskwights have faced heavy discrimination in the region ever since this clan divide. (Some incredibly rare but notable exceptions include: Amandine Dartancours and Mother Miounne)

 

Because of this discrimination, many Duskwights continued to flee the Shroud and seek life elsewhere. And that's sort of where modern day Duskwights are at right now. Many live across Eorzea, assimilating into other regional cultures, or they were born in the Shroud and grew up discriminated against. Unfortunately, Duskwights don't get much more lore than that and its been a gripe of many an RPer for years. 

 

Hope this helps though!

This helps immensely thank you so much!

[Valence]

Technically, if you will, the elezen being the first race to come across Eorzea is true if you only consider it over the 6th Astral Era (the last astral era before Bahamut-in-a-moon shenanigans), but that's still rather nebulous. 

 

The first great hyuran migration and invasion happens in the year 350 of the 6th Astral Era, pushing hard against all races, especially the Elezen, that took refuge in Coerthas and Gelmorra. No great city state or any truly civilized society exists at that point: Ishgard is only founded around year 500, Gelmorra around 740, Limsa around 834, and Belah'dia in 737. Technically speaking the first great city state to emerge was indeed purely Elezen. 

 

This doesn't say much though, because the hyuran migration, we had scattered survivors of the 6th Umbral Era, either from Mhach, Nym or Amdapor, some of them having moved to Gyr Abania, and some having stayed around Vylbrand, Mhach, or moved to Thanalan (Belahdia). While the north of Eorzea was certainly mostly dominated by Elezens, this doesn't account for all the lalafellin survivors of Mhach or Nym, and the hyuran survivors from Amdapor. And all this doesn't even account for the miqo'te, for which we don't even know anything besides a vastly anterior miqo'te migration in the previous Eras following the fall of Allag.

Edited March 3, 2018 by Valence

[Yssen]

Duskwights do have a unique culture of their own. Their entry in the lore book does give insight to a whole bunch that we didn't have before. Pomanders (with a capital P) are a uniquely Duskwight creation, for instance. It is also mentioned that they made a bunch of architectural advances, developed wards against The Elementals (it is worth noting that this is likely what their face tattoos are, but that has never been expressly stated), and did a lot of stuff with the Mun-Tuy beans as far as cuisine goes. The continue to pass down the culture and traditions of Old Gelmorra to this day. It would be a little bit of mistake to say that they have completely assimilated into other existing cultures. The easiest real world parallel to draw from (in terms of where the fit in society, not so far as the actual meat and bones of their culture) would be outsider/displaced cultures like the Romani, Tinkers, Travelers, and even the Ainu. They exist within the larger culture of the world, but they are not completely assimilated into it. The have formed their own subculture based on the traditions they had before they were displaced. This gives them a very "us versus them" feel when combined with the fact that they tend to avoid living cities and are notoriously reclusive. Like most of those outside cultures they are generally viewed negatively as thieves, cutthroats, brigands, and bandits from the outside looking in, but it is worth noting that this stigma exists because it is for the most part true. 

The split between the Duskwights and Wildwoods is very very real. They changed the spelling and sometimes the pronunciation old family names over it, and it still persists to this day. Though as mentioned some people don't like to touch on that divide because it can lead to dealing with uncomfortable racist themes. To say the two tribes don't like each other is a bit of an understatement. It is worth noting that the lorebook notes that most Elezen default to being Wildwood, but that Ishgardian Elezen don't actually make a distinction. When discussing the split between the Elezen we are largely talking about those Elezen that have their roots in Gelmorra and Gridania, not Dravania or Ishgard. All Duskwights trace back to Gelmorra and the Shroud, the same is not so for all Elezen.  It is also worth noting that Gelmorra did not just fall into disrepair and become abandoned, it was attacked by Gridania by the command of The Elementals. This is the act Duskies usually point to as the vector for the Duskwight/Wildwood split and animosity. Conversely, the Wildwood point to the Duskies choosing to say in Gelmorra and not make pact with The Elementals as the vector.

If you can find a copy, the lore book can be super helpful for finding neat Duskwight/Gelmorra tidbits. It can be hard to get a hold of because it seems to be on constant back order, but I believe some people put scans of it online when it first came out.

Hope this has been helpful.

[Sounsyy]

19 hours ago, Yssen said:

It is also worth noting that Gelmorra did not just fall into disrepair and become abandoned, it was attacked by Gridania by the command of The Elementals. This is the act Duskies usually point to as the vector for the Duskwight/Wildwood split and animosity.

 

I wanted to quickly comment on this and say that Koji gave us confirmation that Gelmorra did actually fall into disrepair and was abandoned over the course of many years because the dwindling population could no longer support it. Gridania might have at some point attacked Gelmorra, but it's not what caused Gelmorra to die, nor is such an attack confirmed in lore. I know there was that old unsourced post floating around on tumblr which made several claims regarding this topic, but most of those have seemed to be disproved by other lore sources since.

 

PAX 2017 Lore Panel: 
Q: How did the Gelmorran civilization actually come to an end?

 

Fernehalwes: This is a really good question and something that we haven't touched upon. In the lore book we pretty much say that here's what happened, here's when it ended, kind of, when people left, but we never talked about that process. Why did it end? If half of the Elezen are still down there, the ones who became the Duskwights, why didn't they just stay down there? So how did that civilization end? 

 

First off, Gelmorra worked. When the elementals first told the Elezen and the Hyur who resided in the Twelveswood "you need to get out now", they all went underground and created the Gelmorran civilization. That was created not just by the Elezen and not just by the Hyur, it was a combination of both of their knowledge. Because they worked together they were able to create this civilization and because they worked together it worked. Many many years later when the elementals had second thoughts, "okay you guys have shown us that you can live peacefully amongst nature you can come out now." The Hyur were the first to leave. Then the Elezen who were happy to go back out into nature where they used to live. But, by that time for a large population that had become their home, and the Elezen having a lot of pride said "no, this is our home. The elementals already kicked us out once, we made this, this is our home. We want to stay here." 

 

They felt betrayed by their Elezen brethren and the Hyur that had helped them create the city. Being very prideful of their city and their civilization, they stuck around and tried to keep things running. But you had a giant city underground that needed pretty much everyone in it to keep it running. But when 75% of the population leaves, things start to decay. They tried their hardest, but things started to break down. Things couldn't be fixed. They couldn't make new things. Not enough people were there to tend to the Mun-tuy farms so they started running low on food. Even though they wanted to stay, they were forced out. They still blame that on the Wildwood Elezen and the Hyur because if they hadn't left they still would've had their civilization. The loss of their civilization wasn't instant, it happened over many generations, and it was something that really drove the Duskwights to hate the Wildwoods. The Wildwoods couldn't understand why they were hated, and that's where all of the "subtle" conflict between those two clans within the same race comes from.

[Valence]

 

 

Gelmorra!