Books!

[Goodfellow]

Alright, first of all, I'm not expecting anything on the level of The Elder Scrolls here, but I am wondering something.

 

Are there any well known books in Eorzea (or anywhere in Hydaelyn, I guess)?  For those of us with scholarly characters, it would make sense for there to be a sort of established or semi-established (de jure or de facto) academic canon; great works that no one could call themselves classically educated without having first read them.  They don't have to be physically available in-game, but is there any mention of that sort of thing?  On Aether by What's-his-name or What's-his-face's Primal Primer or anything?

 

And if not--and I'm asking this honestly, noob that I am--should we invent some?  Not write out whole tomes, obviously, but should we supply titles and basic ideas around some famous books that all of our characters would have read?  Or is that presumptuous on the part of the player community?

 

That excludes, of course, any works written by our own characters (the authors of which Lolotaru would be thrilled to meet, insatiable bibliophile that he is).

 

Anyroad, I wanted to see what the community knew/thought.

 

Thanks folks!

[Olofantur]

Hello Goodfellow,

 

to start i'll provide you with this link to the wiki literature.

http://ffxiv-roleplayers.com/wiki/index.php?title=Category:Literature

 

I quite agree with you. I would be enthused to find a set of established literature to pour into and pull from, or at least reference. Which unfortunately seems not to be the case.

 

To be honest I am working on a couple of projects, one among them will be a book, from which I will provide a few key excerpts. (The main topic is a study in the changes of flora and fauna since the decent of Dalamund, I had many personal notes from my 1.0 adventures, found myself going over them with corrections in 2.0 and decided to make it in character.)

 

I would be ecstatic to find a similar project in the works, or if you fancy it, some collaborative effort could be made. At the moment I am making in roads to finding an escort or two to accompany me into some of the more hostile lands and do a bit of dirt digging for me, but it simply hasn't been my focus.

 

Excellent idea how ever. Please let me know if there is anything I can clarify, or any questions.

[Chisae]

You could take some real world book names (from the same time frame of Ff14 roughly) and turn them into Eorzean titles.

 

Like Culpepper's Herbal could be Culpryfwyn's Herbal, written by the famous Roegadyn herbalist of the last era.

 

Or just make up your own book names, such as Lalala's Theories and Treaties on Magical Formulae and Applications.

[Goodfellow]

@Olofantur - Thanks for the link.  It's a start.  Maybe we should start peppering our RP with more literature along the lines of what @Nimarhie brought up.  And if we make a slight effort to remember a title or two from these conversations, we might, as a by-product, start producing a canon of reference material. 

 

Like I said before, it's great for our characters to write things.  Lolotaru will eventually (and could be interested in your project, Olofantur, although I didn't play 1.0), but coming up with some background works (not taking them as SE-level canon, but our own RPC microcanon) might just give some cohesiveness to our disparate invented academic environments.

 

Now, if SE would just give Eorzea a few libraries...(another thing for us to solve when we get housing?)

[Olofantur]

Now, if SE would just give Eorzea a few libraries...(another thing for us to solve when we get housing?)

 

Yes please!

 

I agree in that creating a "side canon" would allow flexibility. Perhaps using a forum vote for pieces that are a wider in scope? This could work along the lines as the "Duskwight Clan" system on the wiki, with some changes of course, but a list of agreed upon works.

 

I also like the idea of pulling from IRL books, "All about Birds, an Eorzean guide to winged dangers." Just spit balling ideas, I think there's a lot of niche room as well which can be nice. Not everyone will read every tome in the Sacrarium so we can afford to have a few more whimsical texts.

[Goodfellow]

 

I agree in that creating a "side canon" would allow flexibility. Perhaps using a forum vote for pieces that are a wider in scope? This could work along the lines as the "Duskwight Clan" system on the wiki, with some changes of course, but a list of agreed upon works.

 

I also like the idea of pulling from IRL books, "All about Birds, an Eorzean guide to winged dangers." Just spit balling ideas, I think there's a lot of niche room as well which can be nice. Not everyone will read every tome in the Sacrarium so we can afford to have a few more whimsical texts.

 

Yeah, I just looked up the Duskwight Clans page and some sort of summary format like that could work.

 

And your second point would add a lot of flavor.  Not just faux-heavy academic works, but all sorts of silliness to accompany the seriousness.  While trying to maintain the lore as best we can, if there is anything that falls too far outside to be acceptable, we just call it fiction or say it's been debunked.  After all, in our own world we don't just read and study things that everyone agrees are true (what a white whale that would be).

---

And several of the books under the literature tag could be linked through the summary page, as well.  We could add and make distinctions between "side-canon" and "character-penned."

[Olofantur]

I heartily agree that there can be any number of texts that could be deliberately fictitious, or old tales passed down. For example fairy tales that Hyurans before their migration may have told becoming twisted into a kind of "grimms fairy tales."

 

Perhaps some books are notable because they are such wonderful flights of fancy, a Eorzean Terry Pratchett

 

Hm, food for thought.

[LeCard]

you could do exactly what we did for the Duskwight page. There is a wiki entry that was made by one of our more proactive DW players, but it started out as just a simple Forum post Duskwight thread. We did all our behind the scenes discussions and lore checking in the thread, and from what we pieced together(and what we built up for our clans) the wiki page was made.

 

You could do a special wiki entry titled something like "Official RPC Litureature of Hydaelyn" or something along those lines. And on that page you could list the works that have been made/found by the RPC and provide links to the original works for reading. You could even list things under headings once you got enough titles listed. (in fact if you get this up and running I would even be willing to "curate" the collect in the wiki page.) 

 

If you use the Forum thread to vet titles and help people edit their works for grammar and such, you could easily use this to help build our collection.

[Olofantur]

I had the Duskwight Discussion in mind, which I have been fortunate enough to follow since its inception.

 

there is already an "official" literature page on the Wiki with a sparse few texts (which I linked in my first post). and If possible I would like to use it as the foundation for added works, since some listed are player made already.

 

We have also considered using the forums as a meens of validation, particularly with more broad topic works. (also mentioned up there.)

 

Things are looking promising.

[LeCard]

I had the Duskwight Discussion in mind, which I have been fortunate enough to follow since its inception.

 

there is already an "official" literature page on the Wiki with a sparse few texts (which I linked in my first post). and If possible I would like to use it as the foundation for added works, since some listed are player made already.

 

We have also considered using the forums as a meens of validation, particularly with more broad topic works. (also mentioned up there.)

 

Things are looking promising.

cool stuff. Also, I will be working on collecting info about the corrupted crystals(already found a little lore in game) and how they can be used. I will try to put together an IC book with my finding for this project.

[Chisae]

When I was a part of the swtor site on enjin there was a person who would makeup titles of bad_romance novels and write snippets of them. It was a lot of fun, and some were hilarious... I could do the same if you make a wiki page...

[Goodfellow]

When I was a part of the swtor site on enjin there was a person who would makeup titles of bad_romance novels and write snippets of them. It was a lot of fun, and some were hilarious... I could do the same if you make a wiki page...

 

Haha that sounds great.

 

Some titles I'm thinking about/working on for background filler so far: Summa aetheriae, which would be an overall treatise of the workings of aether, and De potentia primorum, a sort of foundational theological text concerning the Twelve.  I'll be out of town this weekend, but I can have some summaries and background up for them.  I doubt I'll go down the road of writing out text for them explicitly just yet, but more just to name drop them for flavor.  In my mind so far they're huge, multi-volume collections in the vein of Aquinas' Summa theologicae, maybe with a couple volumes lost (future adventure hooks), and mostly recomposed from quotations and references made by other ancient authors.

 

As an aside, I can't figure out how to fix my signature and the more active I become on the forums, the more it bugs me.  Halp?

---

 

there is already an "official" literature page on the Wiki with a sparse few texts (which I linked in my first post). and If possible I would like to use it as the foundation for added works, since some listed are player made already.

 

We have also considered using the forums as a meens of validation, particularly with more broad topic works. (also mentioned up there.)

 

Yeah, I don't want to ignore what's already out there (I was particularly impressed by Kannadi's contributions), but I think reorganizing it somehow into a clearer or more inviting format like the Duskwight wiki might be a good idea.  Myself?  Not a wiki wizard; I'm more of an ideas guy.

[Olofantur]

 

cool stuff. Also, I will be working on collecting info about the corrupted crystals(already found a little lore in game) and how they can be used. I will try to put together an IC book with my finding for this project.

 

Ooh, that sounds very interesting. I wonder if you'd be amenable to sharing any preliminary works you do. In Character I don't study the crystals themselves much but I do make some cursory notes on Aether, its alterations and the natural consequences. Perhaps even an IC peer review? that might be neat to do of material put forward, an open Socratic style discussion of points maybe? just a thought.

 

 

Yeah, I don't want to ignore what's already out there (I was particularly impressed by Kannadi's contributions), but I think reorganizing it somehow into a clearer or more inviting format like the Duskwight wiki might be a good idea.  Myself?  Not a wiki wizard; I'm more of an ideas guy.

 

Excellent point, i'll speak with Deirdre about what we have to work with. If you'd be alright with it i'll send you messages (or post here) the ideas and limitations suggested, maybe mock up a test page before rolling forward. Thoughts?

[AvaZope]

We could take sections of the lore (via wiki/lodestone/ect) and organize them into unique sections with extra added information, like in-game theories, different racial/city opinions and conspiracies to make them feel less like the basic wiki info blurbs and then title the sections and make up an author name (unless your character is a scholar and may have written it or something).

 

That way, we have legitimate "books" that the community can both refer to but also use in character as reference.

[Goodfellow]

@Olofantur: I think some limited IC peer editing could be very cool, as could some development symposium-style.  And feel free to message me, but I'm good with working with the community here in the thread, too.

 

@Zope: Good points, and it fits with the short of organizational structure that I think is coalescing as we discuss it.

[LeCard]

 

cool stuff. Also, I will be working on collecting info about the corrupted crystals(already found a little lore in game) and how they can be used. I will try to put together an IC book with my finding for this project.

 

Ooh, that sounds very interesting. I wonder if you'd be amenable to sharing any preliminary works you do. In Character I don't study the crystals themselves much but I do make some cursory notes on Aether, its alterations and the natural consequences. Perhaps even an IC peer review? that might be neat to do of material put forward, an open Socratic style discussion of points maybe? just a thought.

 

 

all accounts of sharing and discussion would be welcome. in fact should you provide any good sources or even just bounce ideas around enough in discussions ICly I'm sure Rogier wouldn't mind listing names of such helpful people in the credits of his works.

[Goodfellow]

Alright folks, I'm back in town and I've got a couple of ideas (titles, authors, and basic outlines) that I'd like to share with you, one and all.  I invite all input and ideas from whosoever is interested in the subject (similar and different).  If this sort of thing is going well, once we've been sufficiently vetted, we can make the wiki a reality and start working some of our productions into our RP.  Here's my first three contributions:

 

 

De potentia primorum (or On the Power of the Primals), by Ariston Lecton

 

 

 

 

-A twenty-two volume encyclopedia on the Primals,penned by a famous Midlander philosopher. 

Every pair of volumes presents Lecton’s findings on the Primals and the beastmen tribes that summon them following two decades of travel and interviewing.  The twenty-first volume treats the Egi and the final is a collection of Lecton’s philosophical musings on the subjects collated in the previous twenty-one volumes.  A massive undertaking, On the Power of the Primals never achieved wide circulation due to its enormous volume and the prodigious complexity of Lecton’s highly philosophical style.  It is incredibly rare to find all twenty-two volumes collected in the same place and it is much more commonly preserved by pairs of volumes at institutions of learning across Eorzea.  As such, very few may claim to have read the opus in its entirety; instead, most individuals’ familiarity with its contents comes by way of bibliographic citation and reference in other, arguably simpler works.

 

 

 

 

 

 

Summa aetheriae (or Summary of the Aether), by Thaumond of Gelmorra

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

-The otherwise nameless Gelmorran Wildwood known as Thaumond spent a large part of his adult life in Ul’dah, where he met travelers from every corner of Eorzea.  Based on hundreds of interviews and his own readings of countless works dealing with individual aetheric aspects and phenomena, he produced the huge Summary of the Aether shortly before his death on his return to Gelmorra.  Initially well-received, the work has periodically fallen under criticism for its lack of firsthand observations and the apparent over-eagerness of its author, who, while undeniably thorough, is considered by many to be unorganized and highly theoretical.  Nonetheless, the sheer volume of information presented in the work has not been ignored and the text has become a cornerstone across a variety of different fields, usually read in conjunction with A Summary of Thaumond’s Summary,by Daga’sae Vho and Lero Faro.

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

A Summary of Thaumond’s

Summary, by Daga'sae Vho and Lero Faro

 

 

 

 

-The Keeper Daga’sae Vho and Plainsfolk Lero Faro,companions and classmates, made the organization, interpretation, and overall editing and correction of Thaumond’s Summary their lives’ work.  They dedicated years to exhaustively researching Thaumond’s own sources and attempting to verify or disprove many of the original work’s more outlandish theories.  The effort spun into a large undertaking involving both authors and their extended networks of colleagues from across the academic landscape.  The result of their effort was their own Summary which is considered by most serious students of the original work to be invaluable in grasping the conclusions and implications of its author.  It is, however, criticized in certain circles for myriad reasons, from accusations of diluting Thaumond’s achievements and preventing readers coming to their own conclusions to cries of plagiarism and invention.

 

(I've done some edits and so struck through these introductions so as to prevent confusion with the new post)

[Olofantur]

Hmmm all three interesting ideas, I especially like the idea of works referencing each other as is so common IRL.

 

A few things I think that should be considered.

 

Primal summoning raised drastically since the crash of the Aegis at Mor Dhona during the Garlean invasion following Ala Mhigos suppression. While I don't doubt that the book or at least an effort on Primal research made, i'm unsure how much beyond supposition it would contain. Perhaps we should add a Tag Out of character of how fictitious the book is? (though how seriously its taken in character is left up to the player.) The point that brings it up, is though Ifrit raises as a near direct result of the long standing Ul'dahn conflict with the Amal'ja, and Gardua due to her feather brained band of misfits, I think certain primals (Titan/Levithan/Rahmuh) have maintained a fairly low profile. I still think its a good idea, maybe it could be expanded as a study of the beast folk tribes on a general level?

 

A note on Gelmorra (You can read about it in detail here http://finalfantasy.wikia.com/wiki/Gelmorra)

 

Gelmorra was at its height during the 6th umbral era, before the founding of Gridania, which I would assume occurred during prior to the founding and habitation of the (in its early stages) purely lalafelln' Ul'dah. Though the information I have to back up that order of events is tenuous. Perhaps Sil'dih could be supplemented? (It being currently in ruins) If using the suggestion of Out of Character tagging intentional misinformation, you could add that while the properties of Aether mayn't have changed, the focuses of it certainly have since the calamity. (And if you're as fond of extrapolation as I am, they've likely changed at every major event, possibly as both cause and effect?)

 

Just some food for thought, all very interesting how ever.

[Goodfellow]

Hmmm all three interesting ideas, I especially like the idea of works referencing each other as is so common IRL.

 

A few things I think that should be considered.

 

Primal summoning raised drastically since the crash of the Aegis at Mor Dhona during the Garlean invasion following Ala Mhigos suppression. While I don't doubt that the book or at least an effort on Primal research made, i'm unsure how much beyond supposition it would contain. Perhaps we should add a Tag Out of character of how fictitious the book is? (though how seriously its taken in character is left up to the player.) The point that brings it up, is though Ifrit raises as a near direct result of the long standing Ul'dahn conflict with the Amal'ja, and Gardua due to her feather brained band of misfits, I think certain primals (Titan/Levithan/Rahmuh) have maintained a fairly low profile. I still think its a good idea, maybe it could be expanded as a study of the beast folk tribes on a general level?

 

A note on Gelmorra (You can read about it in detail here http://finalfantasy.wikia.com/wiki/Gelmorra)

 

Gelmorra was at its height during the 6th umbral era, before the founding of Gridania, which I would assume occurred during prior to the founding and habitation of the (in its early stages) purely lalafelln' Ul'dah. Though the information I have to back up that order of events is tenuous. Perhaps Sil'dih could be supplemented? (It being currently in ruins) If using the suggestion of Out of Character tagging intentional misinformation, you could add that while the properties of Aether mayn't have changed, the focuses of it certainly have since the calamity. (And if you're as fond of extrapolation as I am, they've likely changed at every major event, possibly as both cause and effect?)

 

Just some food for thought, all very interesting how ever.

 

 

I read about the more recent appearance of the Primals shortly after posting this and assumed someone would bring it up (which I appreciate).  I'm going to reduce the girth of that particular work and make it more of a study of the beastmen tribes, with more of an addendum about the Primals, to make it more believably fit within the time-frame.

 

As for the Gelmorra-Ul'dah timeline, I was a little mixed up on the timeline.  I think the Sil'dih substitution could probably work, and maybe that particular work should be a little more fragmentary in modern Eorzea due to time passed and the disappearance of both Gelmorra and Sil'dih.  The companion book could then also be in part or initially an attempt to reconstruct the original work by Thaumond.

 

Thoughts?

[Olofantur]

I think that works admirably, supposedly Ul'dah was around before Sil'dih fell, so perhaps an early Lalafelln' scholar who lived in Ul'dah and visited Sil'dih had copies made that were later circulated in Ul'dah (and greater Eorzea) which would lend credence to it as a dated text and one that's heavily analyzed.

 

Hmm...

[Goodfellow]

Okay, I've reworked those three according to some of the comments I've received so far.  I've also come up with two more, which I'll add below.  I've tightened the timeline on the first text while leaving the dates for all of them deliberately vague.  I figure once they've been vetted and edited sufficiently and there's some communal agreement on the ideal order of events, we can slap some dates on them or leave them generally in a particular Era.

 

An Encyclopedia of the Beastmen & Their Ways & Relations

&

De potentia primorum (or On the Power of the Primals)

by Ariston Lecton

 

 

On the Power of the Primals is a sort of recently released appendix to an older eight volume study on the beastmen tribes called An Encyclopedia of the Beastmen & Their Ways & Relations that originally made its author, Midlander philosopher Ariston Lecton, famous and is already making waves in the academic community.  Each of the first seven volumes presents Lecton’s findings on the beastmen tribes and their relations to the nearest city-state or historically inhabited site following decades of travel and thousands of interviews while the eighth hypothesizes on the reality of the Moogles and gives space for Lecton’s philosophical musings on the subjects collated in the previous seven volumes.  Although its author has enjoyed great success, An Encyclopedia of the Beastmen & Their Ways & Relations has not enjoyed a wide readership given the impressive diversity of its content and the prodigious complexity of Lecton’s highly philosophical style.  It is currently enjoying a resurgence of popularity following the publication of On the Power of the Primals, which is highly controversial and hotly debated and deals with a subject few other works have yet approached.

 

 

Summa aetheriae (or Summary of the Aether)

by Thaumond of Gelmorra

 

 

The otherwise nameless Gelmorran Wildwood known as Thaumond spent a large part of his adult life in traveling before settling in Sil’dih.  During this time he met travelers from every corner of Eorzea and, based on hundreds of interviews and his own readings of countless works dealing with individual aetheric aspects and phenomena, he produced the huge Summary of the Aether shortly before his death on his return to Gelmorra.  Some time later, young Duskfolk scholar studying for a time in Sil’dih before its fall, Honana Hona, made copies of the work which she circulated amongst her peers and colleagues in Ul’dah once she returned to that city.  Initially well-received,the work has periodically fallen under criticism for its lack of firsthand observations and the apparent over-eagerness of its author, who, while undeniably thorough, is considered by many to be unorganized and highly theoretical.  What’s more, the nature of its circulation led to the loss of certain chapters and, during the height of the text’s popularity, a sort of underground trade dealing in faked works and volumes by Thaumond appeared.  Nonetheless,the sheer volume of information presented in the work has not been ignored and the text has become a cornerstone across a variety of different fields, usually read in conjunction with A Summary of Thaumond’s Summary, by Daga’sae Vho and Lero Faro.

 

A Summary of Thaumond's Summary

by Daga'sae Vho & Lero Faro

 

 

The Keeper Daga’sae Vho and Plainsfolk Lero Faro,companions and classmates, made the organization, interpretation, and overall editing and correction of Thaumond’s Summary their lives’ work.  They dedicated years to exhaustively researching Thaumond’s own sources and attempting to verify or disprove many of the original work’s more outlandish theories.  The effort spun into a large undertaking involving both authors and their extended networks of colleagues from across the academic landscape.  The result of their effort was their own Summary which is considered by most serious students of the original work to be invaluable in grasping the conclusions and implications of its author.  It is, however, criticized in certain circles for myriad reasons, from accusations of diluting Thaumond’s achievements and preventing readers coming to their own conclusions to cries of plagiarism and invention and even offense at the inclusion or exclusion of sections and chapters that many claim were not written by Thaumond himself.

 

The Great & the Small

by I'oahina Lahae

 

 

The Great & the Small is the young and Seeker poet I’oahina Lahae’s collection of highly mystical poetic treatments on all the races and clans of Eorzea and the twelve deities they revere.  A beautiful literary achievement, several of the lovelier or cleverer couplets have taken on an almost anthemic importance to the more poetically inclined of each race.  Lacking in serious academic credibility, the work remains popular for the beauty of its language and the strikingly optimistic worldview it presents of a highly idealized version of Eorzea and her gods.   

 

O Dalamud

by Tylan Tolar

 

 

Now increasingly called Tylan the Calamitous, Tylan Tolar is the pseudonym of an unknown individual, presumably Hyur, who wrote an epic ode to the lesser moon Dalamud. 

Now, after the Calamity, it is less read and its author has become a target of sarcasm, irony, and general disappointment and disillusionment.  Copies are being preserved for the sake of historical value, but the formerly beloved O Dalamud has become a sore subject in the literary sphere of Eorzea,apparently diminishing the value of a great many works that cite or reference the poem in their own text.

 

And that's it so far.

[Chisae]

In rp the other night, I made up a title on the fly:

 

The Green Hills of the Forgotten Springs. It's a story about two sunkitties who fall in love, but from different tribes and run away to be together.

[Goodfellow]

In rp the other night, I made up a title on the fly:

 

The Green Hills of the Forgotten Springs. It's a story about two sunkitties who fall in love, but from different tribes and run away to be together.

 

Is it something your character wrote or a background text?

[K'dath]

A lot happened to this thread since the OP, which was the last I read of it. I poped in and got pretty hung up over the line: I'm not expecting anything on the level of The Elder Scrolls here

 

And I was like... why not? The Elder Scrolls had some of the greatest flavor in any RPG. Why not aspire to that level of thoroughness? There were hundreds of publications each with their own unique flavor and spin on the world. Why not make something like that? 

 

So, I grabbed a list of about 500 book titles, then set about modifying and reworking them in accordance with Eorzean lore, as a sort of 'pet project'. Some of them are blatantly ripped off, some not, though I'd prefer to think of them as loving tributes or clever references rather than 'rip offs' of any series, real or fake.

 

I tried to touch on a broad range of lore ranging from medical to mythical, hard lore and folktales, short stories, cultural tributes, weaving many different races, perspectives, and locations into the whole thing as possible. I especially tried to highlight little known or obscure lore, some background flavor for dungeons and enemies, and a few popular player theories (just because something is a book doesn't make it true!) There are a lot of points I didn't get around to addressing, and a lot of lore I simply do not know and am not aware of, so I didn't handle it.

 

What follows is a proposed list of titles and short summations of proposed content. I personally wash my hands of it and put this list out there to be perused, picked apart, altered, changed, or lambasted as the community sees fit. If you want to do anything with it at all, permission is yours to do what you will. 

 

 

 

16 Accords of Destruction

A series of weathered, archaic teachings passed down from the now extinct order known as the Fists of Rhalgr detailing the Ala Mhigan's god and virtues to be taken from their patron deity.

 

36 Lessons of The Spinner

A book for priests and priestess of Nymeia to defer to consulting the movement of astral bodies and the divining of futures.

 

A Children's Aetherial

A simplified instruction manual detailing the many functions and uses for aether in day to day life.

 

A Dance in Mor Dhona

A first hand account of The Battle of Silvertear Skies from the perspective of a Garlean soldier.

 

A Dream of Hydaelyn

An infamous account written by an adventurer on his dreams of the Mothercrystal.

 

A Dinner at Haukke Manor

A book about the questionable hospitality of the manor’s new owner, Lady Amandine and the truly excessive lengths she goes through to maintain her beauty, leading the author to speculate to what ends she would go for vanity's sake.

 

A Gentleman's Guide to Ul'dah

A pocketbook denoting the many shops and attractions in Ul'dah befitting a good, god-fearing gentleman.

 

A Primal Primer

The definitive collection on what the civilized races know of the Primal threat.

 

An Adventurer's Guide to Vylbrand

A brief overview of some cities for tourists to visit on the isle.

 

An Atlas of Beasts

A pocket sized field guide/bestiary on the wildlife of Eorzea

 

A'hirz: A Tribal Primer—Part A

One of the few books on the strange tribal cat-like people from distant shores. It consists of an interview with what the author surmises is the leader of the tribe called 'Ah'. The Miqo'te mostly talks in nonsensical and barely discernible speech patterns. There's little to any real information and is mostly cited as an archaic and comical miscomunication between races.

 

Aether: Primals and the Twelve

A brief summary of the similarities and differences between both. Could be considered mildly heretical

 

Aether Restored

A treatise on the nature of aether and how it has changed following the Battle of Silvertear Skies.

 

Airships: Stealing the Skies

Origin of the airship as taken from Ixali dirigibles, how it was co-opted and improved upon by humans, culminating in the advent of the advanced Garlean warships.

 

Amongst the Duskwights

A study of the Duskwight culture,history, and unique customs they have developed as part of cutting themselves off from the rest of Eorzea.

 

Annals of the Sultansworn

Memoirs written by a member of the Sultansworn and reflections on what it means to be a Paladin.

 

Antecedents of Hellsguard Law

By Worthy Eagle. A comprehensive compendium on the historical culture of the mountain dwelling Roegadyn, acting as a bridge between the imposing appearance of the people and their rich history and traditions that the uninitiated or ignorant may not expect of them.

 

The Affairs of Thaumaturges

A tell-all guide by an anonymous author into the intricacies and inner workings of the Thaumaturge's guild, outlining the alliances and collaborations usually kept secret by the order of undertakers.

 

The Ancestors and the Elezen

A theoretical history of the fairfolk,likening them to a similar origin as the Hyur

 

The Alchemists Maxim

By Eurig Miller. A composite of simplistic alchemical formulas any alchemist should know.

(I've actually penned a few entries for this, as per my own interest with both flavor and practical info)

 

The Amalj'aa Account

A harrowing series of tales told by an adventurer about his harrowing exploits into the heart of the lizardmen stronghold of Zahar'ak. It touches on the strange and savage beastmen and opens up a new understanding of their nature and their primal god.

 

The Art of War-Magic

By Surun Turun, a Lalafellin Black Mage of notable ability. Literally wrote the book on flash frying foes.

 

The Autumn War

Historical record of the Ala Mhigan conflict with Gridania and her allies during the Sixth Astral Era.

 

Blackjaw: A Tragedy

A newly commissioned play set in Ul'dah, in which a pair of young Lalafell lovers from different social classes plan to elope to the distant sunny shores of Costa del Sol. As they are fleeing across the desert by night they stumble across an Amalj'aa encampment where the most notorious of all the lizardmen, Blackjaw Radegg Chuh, and his marauders are stationed. To save his bride-to-be the young street rat sacrificed himself that she might live. Devastated by the loss of her love she breaks down and is taken in by a refugee camp, to work the rest of her life, alone with neither her love nor her wealth to comfort her.

 

Axe to Grind: A Hellgaurd's Tale

A tale about the legendary Hellguard Warrior 'Burning Axe' and his unique manner of fighting which went on to influence generations of Roegadyn fighters.

 

Before The Age of the Adder

A brief history on the bloody conflicts between Elezen and Hyur before the founding of Gridania and the Order of the Twin Adder, which united them.

 

Biography of Bu Ze

The story of a Kobold ambassador, who was the first to bargain with the men of Limsa Lominsa and give up the Kobold secrets of metal smithing.

 

Breathing Stone

A well known fictional novel in Thanlaan penned by a former miner which describes the horrific conditions in which the unskilled must labor for little pay. The main character of the novel slowly succumbs to a preventable type of lung rot from working deep underground with no air. The publication of this book, its popularity, and subsequent public outrage is what drove the fight for safer working conditions, though it's debatable if anything has truly improved.

 

Brief History of the Eorzea

Several weighty volumes detailing Eorzea's elaborate history through the many eras.

 

Brotherhood of the Dark Sail

A fictional novel by a sailor about a band of pirates which terrorized the seas following the Calamity. It takes a very sympathetic look to the outlaw way of life and details the sorts of codes they lived by. Some of the books details border dangerously on the 'How to' for piracy, and thus, its possession inside the city of Limsa Lominsa is probable cause for investigation and/or incarceration.

 

The Bull of Ala Mihgo

A brief history of Raubahn Aldynn, the Highlander Gladiator that fought his way to the top, into the heart of the Syndicate, and straight to the side of the Sultana herself

 

C'hansir's Folly

The short story of a legendary Miqo'te thief and her fatal mistake when robbing a royal's tomb.

 

Carwyn's Heart

A novella by a Hyur lad written as a catalog of his many heroic deeds, attributing them all for his love of his country and her people.

 

Children of the Elements

A look into the strange birth of the Padjal, detailing how bizarrely different they are than the very race which bore them and speculates on their mythical nature.

 

Chronicles Of Issom-Har

A documentation of the cultural relics and tales of Duskwight clans that have since vanished from Eorzea.

 

Confessions of an Elezen Somnus Eater

By Thomant Dequinoix. Autobiography of a Wildwood Elezen and his struggles with an addiction to the dreaded and dangerous drug known to make imbibers fall into a deep sleep forever.

 

Of Chemistry

The forerunner of 'The Alchemist Maxim' it details much less effective means to crafting medicine with far more esoteric terminology. The mythical, 'witchcraft' outlined in this book helped in breeding the the stereotype of alchemy as a hexer's pseudoscience.

 

Daughter Of The Navigator

A biography of Merlwyb Bloefhiswyn and the prosperity her order has brought to Limsa Lominsa

 

Death Blow Of Attazul the Heir

A poem about a fierce Ixal captain who in his attempt to reclaim the Twelveswood waged a tireless war against the God's Quiver. His subsequent death was by but a single arrow fired from the bow of a Hyur recruit.

 

Death is a Wanderer

A tenant of unique funeral rites practiced by some followers of Oschon, the Wanderer. It demands they not be interred in the ground forever, but burnt and scattered, that they their essence might yet be free to travel to places unknown.

 

Driven to Acquisition: Quirin and Coins

A study of the rat-like beastmen and their obsession with hoarding gil. The author makes several hypothesis to the reasoning and attempts to 'cure' the obsessive behavior through various, speculative means.

 

Duty of the Faerie Maiden

A Hyuran retelling of a Sylph folk-tale involving the good-natured mischief of a beautiful lass in her attempts to lighten the hearts of her people.

 

The Dark Sail

A legendary tale of the fearsome Pirate King, Blanceig Aerstnebbsyn

 

On Exile

...the title reads in finely printed, correctly spelled letters. What follows is a subtitle of 'Why Ul'Dah is meanie pants makes Shinygive go away'. A first hand account of Ul'dah's expulsion of all the 'beast' races from the perspective of the Goblin Merchant Deemix Shinygive. Despite the apparent care that went into the title, the rest of the goblin's awful syntax is preserved in the book.

 

On Harvesting

By Fufucha. The must have manual on how to properly find and gather all of Eorzea's lush vegetation.

 

Herbalist's Guide to The Shroud

Herbalist's Guide to Thanlaan

Herbalist's Guide to La Noscea

A series of books detailing the many types of herbs and their practical uses, sorted by geography.

 

Hexer's Guide to Herbs

A book published in retaliation to the Herbalist's guide, offering questionable esoteric uses for herbs.

 

The Horrors of Toto-Rak

A short story about life in the Thousand Maws of Toto-Rak when it was still an active prison, from the perspective of a prisoner slowly losing his grip on sanity as the prison fungi eat away his brain.

 

The Howling Earth

From one of the few survivors of the incident at Cutter's Cry, in which the Darklight Raiders went in, and never made it out. In great and grizzly detail he recounts the visage of the chimera bathed in the gore of his comrades. How its eyes fell upon him and bid him flee... that he may warn others never to trespass in that hall of stolen sand ever again...

 

In Good Companies: The Protectors of Eorzea

A brief synopsis of the Grand Companies, their founding, notable achievements, and legendary members.

 

The Incident at Quarn

An academic paper on the recently discovered sunken temple and proposed theories as to its rise, usage, and fall.

 

Interred: The Legacy of the Tam-Tara Deepcroft

A recount of the historic Deepcroft and a list of the wealthy and notable families as well as the powerful individuals which reside there.

 

Invocation of Garuda

A heretical text coming from as far back as the First Umbral Era of Wind, which attributes Garuda as the founder of the age of men and is such their rightful god. Copies of the book are seized and burned upon discovery by any and all authorities, making it rare and valuable book.

 

Jajalupo and the Warden Stone

A Dunefolk fairy tale about a young Lalafell's journey to claim the gifts of the Goddess.

 

King of Ruin

Historical documentation of the tyrant Theoderic's reign in Ala Mihgo, the revolt, his fall, and the fall of the nation.

 

The Lominsian Way

A fanciful telling of Lominsian cultural traditions and their origins, dating back to Sea Wolf customs and pirate superstitions.

 

The Maelstrom Report on Sastasha

Some history of the once notable pirate hide-out, how it fell from grace, and report of it now as little more than a courel's whelping den with no reason to believe it is anything else.

 

Midgardsormr, King of Dragons

An oft forgot religious tale that says when the gods of magic and fate came to be so did the lord of all serpents, whom they charged with the duty of guarding the font of magic from which they came. When man first looked upon him they worshiped him as a deity, and the dragons of Dravania knew him as their king.

 

Myths Of Menphina

A collection of somewhat salacious tales featuring the Lover and subjects of her dominion. A staple for the libraries of all Keepers of the Moon.

 

Nald'thal, Our Enemy

A book written by would be usurpers of the underworld containing forbidden knowledge stolen from the Necrologos. Details heinous acts to defile bodies and break the unalienable laws of death.

 

Physicalities of Beastmen

A racist essay masquerading as medical fact, noting the 'deformities' and 'inferior traits' of the beast tribes, both friendly and not. Cited often in manners of discriminating against bestfolk merchants.

 

Pirates of the Rhotano

A romantic bit of historical fiction detailing the adventures of the stylish and uncatchable Captain Black Marrow. Though the characters are very idealized, the stories are ground in real pirate tales.

 

Reality and its Falsification: An Introductory Guide to the Arcane

A basic introduction and history on the study and manipulation of reality with Arcane Geometry.

 

Renown to Ruin, the Fall of Halatali

The sad and detailed history of the labyrinthine caves as a place of holiness, and then of great battles and wondrous beasts which gladiators dueled tooth and nail. How it all fell out of favor in the age that followed the Calamity, and the accusations that its keepers left those trapped inside to perish.

 

The Spirit and The Primal

Informative view into the nature of the Primals from the perspective of an accomplished Summoner

 

Saving (Your) Face: Stave Etiquettefor the Uninitiated

A somewhat comical 'How-To' Guide for using a caster's stave as an improvisational melee weapon in times of low mana.

 

Songs of the Pirate King

A collected and published book of shanties and songs sung by the pirate folk of Limsa Lominsa in her many bars and seedy hang-abouts.

 

Spoken Blood

A study on the properties of blood,comparing and contrasting the valuable but questionable use of the blood of fellow sentient races as a medical, alchemical catalyst.

 

Sylphfolk

A study of the non-aggressive beastmen known as the Sylph and the strange, and at time strenuous, peace they share with Gridania. Details their customs such as dancing as a form of greeting, appropriate gifts and gift-giving situations, and their habits of mischief and pranking.

 

Thaliak and the Box

A religious folk-tale about the patron of Scholars, which playfully and cryptically challenges the listener to expand their understanding of even the most basic of principals.

 

Triumphs and Regrets

A Roegadyn mercenary's reflections on her many jobs and duties faced over the years. Details the hardships of the sellsword's life and the

 

Twelve and Worship

A study into the particulars of worship of the gods in Eorzea.

 

The Spear Of Ishgard

A published version of the tale well known of the first Dragoon, Haldrath, and how he blinded the dragon Niddhog with his sire's spear.

 

The Thief’s Way

By Taka Jabal. A controversial book about the lost art of the con man, the pick pocket, the lockpicker, and general silver-tounged rouge-ery, straight from the experience of a well known Keeper thief.

 

The Lusty Amalj'aa Maid

Haha, just kidding. This is a terrible idea. Nobody write this.

Please dear god nobody write this.

 

[Olofantur]

A lot happened to this thread since the OP, which was the last I read of it. I poped in and got pretty hung up over the line: I'm not expecting anything on the level of The Elder Scrolls here

 

Not to nitpick in turn, but I think the "Not of Elderscrolls" isn't so much a refrain from breadth, but of content. Nearly every book in the Elder scrolls (I'm counting Dagger fall and up) contains between 20-30 lines of text, some more, some less.

 

Of course i'm not OP so I can't speak as to exactly what he was meaning, but that is my understanding. providing a synopsis, titles and short excerpts was the goal.

 

I do how ever like some of the names you put forward. I've been toying with "Eorzeaning" some of my own text books left over from Uni, and maybe some of the ones I have through work.