General Lore Questions

[Goodfellow]

Alright, jumping straight to the business, I know that it's entirely possible that a lot of what I'd like to know has not yet been explicitly laid out for us, but I imagine that if anyone is more knowledgeable than me, it's every one of you.  So here we go:

 

1) Are surnames individualized for Dunesfolk?  That is, are both of a Dunesfolk's names unique to that individual?  Is Lolotaru Lalataru the only Lalataru, or does he come from a long and storied line of Lalatarus?

 

2) Do we know anything about the individual tribes of Sun Seekers?  Do they differ or matter at all?  Where are they?  Who are they?  Etc, etc.?  I've got a seeker named U'khaji and I'd really like to know more about where he comes from.

 

3) Does the Echo make everyone intelligible to us?  Just the spoken word or writing as well?

 

I think that's it for now.  The big ones, at least, that should help get me started.  I appreciate it.

 

-Goodfellow

[Fates Skein]

Hi!

 

I can answer only one portion of your question, I'm afraid.  Regarding the tribes of the Sun Seekers- there really hasn't been any widely publicized lore released for the individual tribes.  Below are a couple of spoilers that I've either been told of or experienced.

 

 

 

 

At around level 30 or so, you'll get to meet some members of tribe U' in Thanalan, the village is called Forgotten Springs.  They are led by an older Nunh who used to be a member of the Company of Heroes and there are at least 2 Tias vying to be the next leader.  The females are very skilled warriors who have to undergo a coming of age ritual that, if I remember right, has to do with luring a desert worm to them and killing it.  The village is struggling between opening up to outside trade and remaining insular. (The Nunh wants to stay apart, one of the Tias is pushing hard to open up to trade from Ul'dah.)

 

I have been told but can't yet confirm that there is a village of C' tribe Miqo'te that are hostile and will attack and kill adventurers on sight.

 

 

There's really not much that's not fan-made regarding the lore and even for the cases I mentioned above the canon lore gives a good amount of leeway because while that part of the tribe in game may be a certain way, it's mentioned that the tribes were nomads for a long time so there may be offshoots that act completely differently.

 

Good luck with the other questions and I hope this helps!

[FreelanceWizard]

I'll take a crack at these.

 

1) Are surnames individualized for Dunesfolk?  That is, are both of a Dunesfolk's names unique to that individual?  Is Lolotaru Lalataru the only Lalataru, or does he come from a long and storied line of Lalatarus?

 

My read of the dev post on the naming conventions is that the surname individuality rule applies to both clans. The difference between the two is in name structure -- but please take this with a grain of salt, as this is just my interpretation of the post.

 

2) Do we know anything about the individual tribes of Sun Seekers? Do they differ or matter at all? Where are they? Who are they? Etc, etc.? I've got a seeker named U'khaji and I'd really like to know more about where he comes from.

 

The Seeker tribes came across an ice bridge in search of prey during the Fifth Umbral Era. Through coincidence, they found that there were 26 letters in the Eorzean alphabet, corresponding to the 26 tribes. Seeing this as a good omen, they assigned a letter to each tribe that was closest to the pronunciation of its name. We know that the names were based on beastkin, scalekin, or cloudkin totems, which are believed to protect the tribe. (dev post)

 

Beyond that, we don't really know much. Because of how the tribes expand (typically: new territories are acquired by a tia, who then becomes nunh of that area, and females join him), there's lots of different branches inside each tribe. Eorzea's a big place and miqo'te are relatively rare by lore, so the tribes are bound to be quite spread out. That gives you a lot of room in which to play with traditions and backstory, as you can just have your character be from a branch of your own design. The above-linked dev post goes into details on traditional miqo'te culture.

 

3) Does the Echo make everyone intelligible to us?  Just the spoken word or writing as well?

 

What's implied in the MSQ when you go to speak to the Sylphs (and stated somewhat indirectly after you take out Ifrit) is that the Echo allows you to connect with someone else's Aether and soul, and thereby understand each other on a deep level. As such, I'd argue that the Echo only applies to spoken language.

 

 

[Pondahl]

Re: Question #1

 

The dev. post Freelance is most likely referencing is here: http://forum.square-enix.com/ffxiv/threads/61151-Lalafell-Naming-Conventions

 

Sadly, the only mention of Lalafell surnames is under the Plainsfolk heading.  However, it also makes mention of both Plains and Dunesfolk, so you could argue that it's relevant to both.

 

Here's the quote: "Surnames are only surnames in placement, as they are not taken from the mother or father and are unique to the individual."

 

So yes, there's that

 

 

Re: Question #2

 

The previous posts are far better answers than I could ever hope to give *Doesn't play Miqo*

 

 

Re: Question #3

 

I'm going to side with FreelanceWizard on his answer.  Just opinion, though~

[Goodfellow]

That's alla great help to me, folks.  I knewi could count on you.  Thanks!

[LeCard]

 

3) Does the Echo make everyone intelligible to us?  Just the spoken word or writing as well?

 

 

What's implied in the MSQ when you go to speak to the Sylphs (and stated somewhat indirectly after you take out Ifrit) is that the Echo allows you to connect with someone else's Aether and soul, and thereby understand each other on a deep level. As such, I'd argue that the Echo only applies to spoken language.

 

 

 

 

 

This is info from after beat Titan

 

 

When you return to speak with Minfillia after you defeat Titan there is a cut scene that shows That spoken word isn't the true power of the Echo. This power is also shown when you rescue the young girl from the merchant(after Copperbel I think?)

This shows that you less have verbal translation and more have Visions of what the person has experienced, thus allowing you to see and know things in a way that words would never allow.

 

So, While the Echo might act as a sort of universal translator I would argue that the true purpose behind it is being able to see what someone else has seen without the need for words. This may require consent of the person to see their life as both incidents which show this aplication of the power have the person was trying to get you to understand what happened and they WANTED you to SEE.

 

[FreelanceWizard]

This is going to be a spoilerrific thread, I think.

 

Indeed, we see the Echo giving you flashes of others' memories -- but sometimes it just sort of happens. Minfilia mentions when you first meet her that the Echo's largely not under anyone's control, a state that's somewhat unfortunate from her perspective.

 

I think it's fair to say that it has two powers: translating, more or less, and letting you relive others' memories (or the memories of things that happened around them and that they weren't necessarily themselves aware of, as happens in Ul'dah with the merchant-harassed girl). They both seem to stem from its effects on you and others' souls.

 

 

[Goodfellow]

Thanks for the additional context, folks.

[Goodfellow]

Okay, working on some background information for several characters and I've come up uncertain on one point in particular.

 

As we know, each race is subdivided into two distinct clans.  Now, without reference to interspecies relationships, is crossbreeding between clans possible?  I.e. Lolotaru having a Dunesfolk father and a Plainsfolk mother?  I assume so, but wanted to be sure.

[FreelanceWizard]

Per this dev post, at least for miqo'te, cross-breeding between clans can happen. It mentions that a particular NPC may have had some blood of the other clan in her past (among other possible explanations), which explains why she has Keeper features and a Seeker name. It seems the only barriers to cross-clan breeding are social and distance-related.

[YesGood]

I also have a question:

 

Paladin heals, like for Sultansworn...

 

Is there a lore-based explanation behind them?

[Lost River]

I also have a question:

 

Paladin heals, like for Sultansworn...

 

Is there a lore-based explanation behind them?

 

I think it's explained as you progress up in level. Basically they're quite trained soldiers, dabbling in the other arts instead of just physical combat. So I'd think they need basic medical knowledge and be able to augment the aether. As they are in fact, the elite soldiers of the Sultana.

[LandStander]

I'll take a crack at these.

 

 

3) Does the Echo make everyone intelligible to us?  Just the spoken word or writing as well?

 

What's implied in the MSQ when you go to speak to the Sylphs (and stated somewhat indirectly after you take out Ifrit) is that the Echo allows you to connect with someone else's Aether and soul, and thereby understand each other on a deep level. As such, I'd argue that the Echo only applies to spoken language.

 

 

 

Speaking of questions, I had a question about this one. I know in 1.0 (and I think 2.0) they say that the only reason you are able to communicate with the beast tribes is because of the Echo, yet the beast tribes seem to communicate with a lot more people. You see a uh lizard guy (name escapes me) in Limsa speaking with one of the merchant npcs (its just a little chat bubble). The guy in the Ifrit story line seems to be able to speak with the Mamool Ja. The Sylph speak with the Lalafell lady who mans the front of The Waking Sands. I think if you go into the back room, one of the Sylphs is even speaking with some random NPC. Not to mention the Sylph encampment that is shared with the Wood Wailers (I think) for the level 20 quest stuff.

 

Is this just because the beast tribes are starting to learn the common tongue..or is the Echo not as cool as they wrote it as being in 1.0?

[Lost River]

I think someone decided to teach the common tongue to the beast tribes and such, if not...

 

 

Everyone would have a degree of the echo. Which in itself, is also plausible too!

 

Being strong in it would allow you to see other lives and such; like the game has the characters.

 

Quite a curiousity. It also adds to the lifestream of Gai- Hydaelyn.

[FreelanceWizard]

Speaking of questions, I had a question about this one. I know in 1.0 (and I think 2.0) they say that the only reason you are able to communicate with the beast tribes is because of the Echo, yet the beast tribes seem to communicate with a lot more people. You see a uh lizard guy (name escapes me) in Limsa speaking with one of the merchant npcs (its just a little chat bubble). The guy in the Ifrit story line seems to be able to speak with the Mamool Ja. The Sylph speak with the Lalafell lady who mans the front of The Waking Sands. I think if you go into the back room, one of the Sylphs is even speaking with some random NPC. Not to mention the Sylph encampment that is shared with the Wood Wailers (I think) for the level 20 quest stuff.

 

Is this just because the beast tribes are starting to learn the common tongue..or is the Echo not as cool as they wrote it as being in 1.0?

 

My personal read on this (which is a little speculative, so take it with between one and many grains of salt ) is that the beastmen often learn the common tongue to interact with others. In fact, the term "beastmen" is really a rather prejudicial one, adopted by the city-state dwellers for a variety of reasons; for instance, Ul'dah has a very vicious anti-beastmen policy, and so they adopted the term to dehumanize them in the eyes of the people (since beastmen get in the way of profits). There's a dev post that speaks to this somewhat obliquely, though I don't have it handy at the moment.

 

I do believe the Echo is still intended to be quite rare, though of course while every PC has it by way of the main scenario quest, PCs are themselves quite rare (being a subset of adventurers, who are a subset of all characters).

 

EDIT: My bad. There's actually two dev posts that address this. This post talks about how the different city-states deal with beastmen; for instance, Gridania and Limsa Lominsa tend to have relations with some of the more amicable tribes. This other post (specifically, question 7) describes how the term "beastman" is used as racial epithet and why.

[Goodfellow]

Hey folks, back again with another question. 

 

I'm aware of the alternate names for measures of time (bells, suns, moons, etc.), but I keep seeing people mentioning "cycles" on their wikis.  Now, I get that they're referencing years,but is "cycle" the in-game term fora year or is that an  overextension of the vocab by an enthusiastic community?

[FreelanceWizard]

I'm aware of the alternate names for measures of time (bells, suns, moons, etc.), but I keep seeing people mentioning "cycles" on their wikis.  Now, I get that they're referencing years,but is "cycle" the in-game term fora year or is that an  overextension of the vocab by an enthusiastic community?

 

The term "years" is used in game. I'm not aware of any instances of an NPC referring to a year as a "cycle" -- but please, someone correct me if I'm wrong.

[Ildur]

I do not think 'cycle' is used anywhere in lore. It's just a logical conclusion about how the naming should work based on how everything is based around aetheric cycles.

You can see here that the information was in-game at some point in 1.0. You can see that there's a section called "Years", when the sections corresponding to days and months are called "Suns" and "Moons" respectively.

 

A member of my linkshell made a fancy guide about how Eorzea measures time. You can find it here. *shameless publicity*

[Goodfellow]

That's about what I thought.  Thanks.

[Goodfellow]

Ala Mhigo. Specifically, rebellions/revolts. I'm wondering a little bit about how many there have been and when? 

 

Also, what was the perception of Ala Mhigo before it fell to the Garleans? And now, I suppose? They were conquerors, after all.

[Ildur]

Ala Mhigo had a bad relationship with the other city states. There are no specifics, but it is said that they tried to invade the others a few times.

There was apparently one attempt to recover the city from the Garleans by the local resistance, but it failed miserably. Those that fled the city are scatered between the Black Shroud (in Quarrymill, I think) and a town to the south of Ul'dah, Little Ala Mhigo (which is really a big cave).

 

There's a lot of information about Ala Mhigo's fall in this thread..

The spoilers you want are the ones about the Fists of Rhalgr and the Last King of Ala Mhigo. The others are interesting lore but aren't related to the city state.

[Goodfellow]

Excellent.  Much appreciated. 

 

Do we know if there is still some amount of resentment towards Ala Mhigans by other Eorzeans today?

[FreelanceWizard]

Do we know if there is still some amount of resentment towards Ala Mhigans by other Eorzeans today?

 

Ala Mhigan refugees in Little Ala Mhigo and Quarrymill are often viewed negatively by Eorzeans, as they tend to be quite poor and rather prickly, preferring to keep to themselves. For their part, the Ala Mhigan refugees often have a negative opinion of other Eorzeans for not helping them in their time of need. Those in Little Ala Mhigo tend to dislike Ul'dah a great deal, as they feel the city is refusing to aid them and its citizens often try to take advantage of them.

 

So, the resentment is largely due to the fall of Ala Mhigo and its aftermath, not so much due to the actions of the kingdom in the past.

[Goodfellow]

All very helpful to know.

[Goodfellow]

I've got another question.  This time about Seekers of the Sun. 

 

How do nunhs refer to "their" females?  As their females, their women, their wives, or something else?