#Eighth Umbral Calamity
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WIP Wednesday :)
A snippet from Like the Dawn, my funky little eighth umbral calamity au thingy? AO3 Summary:
At the world's darkest, just past the events of the Eighth Umbral Calamity, G'raha Tia spends his days surviving. No one woke him up with a plan, the Ironworks crew having not survived long enough to devise such ideas or mechanisms. The world is lost and hope's light snuffed out.Or so he thought until he peered into his mirror and saw her, an echo of someone he knew long ago. Suddenly, an ember thought long dead, rekindled. Reincarnation is a myth right?Then, like the dawn, hope rises and his destiny takes a turn he hadn't foreseen.
The rustle of the reeds from the near barren lake’s shore feels ominous. A wind stirs. The hairs on her arms stand tall. Instinctively, she reaches a hand towards her weapon and she looks around and sniffs the air, the intense scent of ozone, of aether making her nose wrinkle.
Hear…
Saoirse’s heart pounds. Hear wha—
A scream pierces the sky and she runs.
It can’t be very far. The scream was so loud. The soles of her feet pound against the ground, her chest feels—
Feel…
—heavy, breaths shallow and she has to focus in order to keep them long and strong. Another shriek, closer, she thinks.
Think…
Resolution sets in and her fists clench. Exertion is taking its toll on her stamina but still she pushes onward until she reaches a small cavern, its crystalline formations a mix of the familiar blue and the out of place orange uncommon to the rest of Mor Dhona as known to her. On the ground, a child cowers and quivers in the face of a beast or—
—a nightmare more like.
Her blood runs cold at the sight of it. It’s hulking mass was a void of the deepest night. Light can not escape its darkness. Its limbs are barely identifiable within its miasma and the sanguine glow of its eyes felt unnatural. Whatever it is, it commands attention and power. Frozen, she stares, hands useless at her sides. Resting, holstered on her back, her bow is useless but for the first time she’s petrified, well and truly.
Surrender not, my child.
That voice. Saoirse feels like she should know it. It’s comforting, feels like a warm embrace. Caressing her, it floats on the breeze, seemingly audible to only her and with it, the strength to reach back and knock an arrow, taking aim at the creature threatening an innocent child.
A deep breath, steady aim, right at the heart. Or what she assumes is.
Look thee to the Light.
Exhale. Release.
Her quarry roars, rearing tall on its hind legs. The arrow struck true.
“Run!”
The child, a young elezen, whips to look at her, eyes wide and red from crying. He needs comfort but there’s no time. “Run, I said! You must leave! Hide!”
But the child hesitates and, taking advantage of the opportunity, the beast lunges.
It is like time has slowed. Saoirse has no time, yet an eternity to react. Her instinct fuels her, she knows what will happen and what must be done to protect the innocent. And so she does.
First, she reaches to her waist and yanks her knife from its holster. In desperation, she throws. It’s unpracticed but effective. The blade does little damage but it successfully pulls attention to her. Another roar, deafening. Her heart pounds.
Deep breaths.
Again, she knocks an arrow, watching as this time the beast bounds straight for her.
Feel…
Wait. Patience. She must have patience. Darkness incarnate races towards her; its fists pound into the ground impatient to instead impact with her flesh.
Think…
It’s close now. She can smell its rancid, foul odor. Its bitter, much like its heart must be. Just a bit more. Her arm aches from holding her position but then finally—finally—it is time.
Exhale. A silent prayer. Release.
The arrow flies true, leaving an otherworldly trail of light in its wake until it strikes the fiend in the eye, driving in deeply. It takes her a moment to register the scent of ozone that lingers but then she realizes—aether. Her suspicions are confirmed when the arrow bursts felling the beast, its shriek of pain stopping in an instant. The world falls silent with it, all is still except for the heaving of her chest as she processes what just happened.
Then there’s the sound of something falling to the crystalline ground, delicately tinkling until it settles. Verdant eyes search until she spies what caused it. There, just ahead, near the body of the beast lies a crystal. It is completely different from that which makes up Mor Dhona. It is not simply a piece broken from the star, left to crumble but instead a seemingly crafted vessel of sorts. It glows gently.
She chews her lip in thought as she approaches, worrying it between her teeth. Saoirse is unsure what to make of it but it seems to call to her. Words echo, deafening yet silent. It speaks to her directly to her mind.
Hesitantly she reaches out and as her fingers touch its smooth, strangely warm surface, her vision goes black.
#FFXIV#Final Fantasy XIV#WoL#WoL OC#Named WoL OC#Reincarnated WoL#Reincarnation#Eighth Umbral Calamity#AU#Alternative Universe#Canon Divergence#I can never keep it straight what is expected from those tbh#Sorta Kinda Bad End#Mentions G'raha but he is not centric in this snip#uuuuuh#WIP Wednesday#WIP#I think that's it?#Sure
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Blep
I am not a bright man, but I am an observant one, and this gift of mine, the Echo, means I don’t forget much. The years have taken their toll on my body, but not on my memory, and before the former fails me, it is imperative that I recount the latter. In these pages are a collection of journal entries that I kept in my youth, and my own memories of these turbulent times. I’ve brought them together so that, if we should live past these days of chaos, someone will know what came before.
Alphinaud would have wanted that much from me, at least.
G’raha Tia paused, his finger beneath that name. He had never met Alphinaud Leveilleur or his twin sister, Alisaie, but he knew of them. Brilliant and powerful progeny of Forchineault Leveilleur, grandchildren of Archon Louisoix, who saved the world from the Seventh Umbral Calamity. The boy, at least, had most certainly been a Scion of the Seventh Dawn. That this Arenvald spoke so familiarly of him boded well for the contents of this memoir.
Taking a deep breath, he skimmed past the rest of the foreword, then delved into the book. The first couple of chapters were dedicated to the man’s childhood - a sad tale, and one G’raha hoped to pursue more fully later, but for now, such details were unimportant to the greater picture.
It was in the third chapter that G’raha first found mention of that which he so desperately sought.
I remember when I first met her. I imagine most people did. If you didn’t know who she was, you wouldn’t think twice of her at first - other than the fact that she was Au Ra, and they were very few and far between in Eorzea. She was so tiny, with that dark skin and horns, and those silly freckles on her nose - but nothing special. Not yet. She was just another adventurer recruited by the Scions, just like me, and A’aba, and Aulie.
But it quickly became obvious she was anything but ‘just another adventurer’. While we sat waiting for assignments or were sent out on patrol, she was working alongside the senior Scions. The day she was sent against the Amalj’aa, the tension in the Waking Sands was thick enough to cut with a knife. When word came of the ambush, that she and the Flames had been taken to Ifrit, it had taken only sharp orders from the Antecedent herself to keep the other Scions from charging to her rescue - and being tempered.
And when Thancred came bearing word of her triumph over the Primal, even I felt faint with relief at her deliverance.
Yes, there was little doubt in anyone’s mind after that. Kal’istae Miurani, adventurer, was someone special. Someone to watch.
If only we’d known then what we know now - just how uniquely special she was.
But it would have changed nothing in the end.
In the end, she still would have died. They all would have.
All except me.
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Toying with the idea of starting to post chapters of my massive wip to AO3. Even tho it's not finished, and some of it needs reworking. It also needs a title, because I've decided the working title isn't good enough anymore. But anyway, have the prologue for now until I've decided...
Prologue
Hollow. Empty. Dark.
Silent.
Silent… for so…
...how long? How long have I been asleep?
Time… tumbling, turning… Unmeasured…
Silent… all silent halls… dark staircases… hollow, empty rooms…
I can feel them all. As I sleep, I can feel the essence of every room, every hall, every crevice and pillar and stair. All empty now. Cleared out of life and partial-life.
Only me. I am left, slumbering… keeping… waiting…
Suspended… still… unmoving… unwaking…
Drifting… floating...
Movement…
There. A shudder.
Again. A twitch. The door…
Someone is…
My consciousness struggles…
I cannot… rouse… myself…
A moment of panic…
But no… I forget for a moment…
I can feel the rooms… the halls… the tower itself…
I need not rouse yet…
My consciousness relaxes… Stretches out… Fills the emptiness…
The rooms and halls are still hollow. No sound. Silence.
Except…
There. A single sound… No, not a sound… It’s…
A signal?
I trace the faint emission… Down, down, down…
It’s coming… from the gate.
There’s someone… at the gate…
Trying to open the door.
The time… The time has finally come.
The signal. It is true. I can feel it.
Resonating. Filling. Turning. Unbinding.
Only I control the Tower. But the gate…
They are opening the gate…
#ffxiv#shadowbringers spoilers#wip#g'raha tia#crystal tower#alternate future timeline#eighth umbral calamity#fanfic snippet#my fanfic#just fanfic things
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AU August - Day Fifteen: Post-Apocalypse
It took this long, but I finally killed a main character.
Series: Final Fantasy XIV
Rating: T
Genre: Angst, Tragedy
Pairing(s): N/A
Summary: It came without word, so sudden… but such could be the nature of a Calamity.
Warning: Suggestions of major character death
The Void…
The Thirteenth overwhelmed by Darkness. So quick it came that there had been little chance for the Rejoining.
And yet… in efforts to save the Shard.
… a crack.
Dark aether began to leak unto the Source, unexpected and unnoticed by the land which it began to churn. Manifesting as an illness, it spread itself as a plague among the people just beginning to rebuild, twisting their aether in ways those unadept to magicks begged for death. Seeped into the ground, those dead began to rise, their bodies twisted into horrific starved amalgamations that slathered and sought those minimally affected by the active aether. If only it were the undead, but it soon began to mutate those living as well - animals, monsters, and men.
Not Voidsent… somehow, not Voidsent at all.
Mindless, cruel… relentless…
Ceruleum became far too volatile for use that abandoning Garlemald - nay, Ilsabard swiftly became the only option.
The Eighth Calamity of Darkness rather than Light…
How quickly it all went wrong.
It had been a moon since those few of the Contingent managed to escape, and Alphinaud had not said a word at all in that time. Yet, the Warrior of Light quietly sat beside their young friend and offered silent companionship, even though the elezen’s eyes never left the red ribbon tied around his wrist.
#final fantasy xiv#final fantasy xiv au#scribbling do#au august#au august 2022#or current apocalypse#endwalker spoilers#minor#eighth umbral calamity#dark aether#basically zombie apocalypse#alphinaud leveilleur#alisaie leveilleur#though not really...#warrior of light#cw: character death#day 15: post-apocalypse
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Never knew how much she considered La Noscea her home until one day she couldn't get back there.
Missing home. And Tataru, Edmont & the boys, Deftarm... Oh gosh I hope Deftarm's doing ok.
#a little break from the horrors#obsessed with kholusia being a reflection of la noscea#and how natural divergence vs calamities has shaped them differently over the last 12k years#but anyway next we're grabbing vauthry from mt gulg to bring the night back to kholusia and prevent the eighth umbral calamity#as one does#can't believe vauthry FLEW there#like if anyone was NOT built for flying it's him#i digress#oc indie von galen#ffxiv gpose#ffxiv
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Finished the Pathless and I can safely say -smacks game case- THIS is peak Odtsetseg core right here.
#STRANGE LOPORRIT (ooc)#((the fighting the music))#((the persistent to face impossible odds))#((the archery the fact that *spoiler* the protagonist gives her life so her eagle friend could bring a new world about))#((makes me think of the eighth umbral calamity timeline))#((AND THE PROTAGONIST GETTING POSSESSED IF YOU DON'T UNLOCK THE SECRET ENDING??))#The pathless spoilers//#((sineater Odtsetseg anyone?))
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(snippet) beneath dark arches—
Marya thought of the little Ala Mhigan girls who'd made daisy crowns for her, their cheeks dimpling impishly as they made one ridiculous request after the other before their mother found them and dragged them away, profusely apologizing for their enthusiasm. The grizzled Hyur man at a pier who had given her coin while sporting a good-natured grin when she'd stubbornly decided to board a ship to Eorzea, newly-named and alone, now so long ago. She thought of the boundless kindness of strangers who'd buoyed her forward before the weight of all she carried could drown her in deep, dark waters.
Their names she never knew, but she carried the memories with her, an endless array of candles she could light during moonless nights. In her heart of hearts, she knew she would die for them one day—it was but a matter of time. She would greet death not as a lamb blindly led to the slaughter, but as a woman who would do no less for the world and people she had come to love.
#marya writings#the only way i can bring myself to extensively write is when i'm making my wol go through the worst:#and what could be worse than the eighth umbral calamity? i think it's both fascinating and heartbreaking to think about what happened#not only to the scions but to the wol#how would she break when her friends are taken by black rose one by one? how would she manage to rise above it all despite now deprived of#the strength of others. how would she navigate such unimaginable depths of grief when she's expected to bear so much more?
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((Tag drop while nobody is on/ Reference for people who don't play XIV. For players, they will be self explanatory in most cases. Tags are usually expansion names or related to expansions. For post expansion content, it will be the title of the first patch released post launch At least until the end of the patch cycle where it will likely shift to the end patch. Only exception is 1.0 (although I doubt it will get any use) which is based off the album title
before meteor- 1.0
A Realm Reborn- 2.0
Before the Fall - (Post ARR)
Heavensward- 3.0
The Far Edge of Fate - (Post HW)
Stormblood - 4.0
A requiem for Heroes (Post SB)
Shadowbringer - (shadowbringers)
Death Unto Dawn - (Post ShB)
Endwalker - (6.0)
Newfound Adventure (Post EW)
Dawntrail - (7.0 after it is released)
Journey to Eos (XV)
Arrival in Valisthea (XVI)
tales of loss fire and faith (headcanons)
warrior of crack (crack)
questions of a warrior (memes)
Azem's musings (OOC)
Edit: forgot a few special ones:
Dragonsong's reprise (A special AU built on the alternate timeline from the Ultimate raid of the same name where Haurchefaunt was saved at the Vault from being killed, and the series of events that led to the fight against Dragon King Thordan)
Unwritten Future (The unwritten future of the Eighth umbral calamity where Etherys has had societal collapse due to Black Rose being released by the Garlean empire and Rasada works with the remains of the Garlond Ironworks to find a solution to reverse the course of history.)
))
#azem's musings (ooc)#newfound adventure (post ew)#questions of a warrior (memes)#tales of loss fire and faith (headcanons)#warrior of crack (crack)#before meteor (1.0)#A Realm Reborn (ARR)#Before the fall (post ARR)#Heavensward (HW)#The far edge of fate (post HW)#Stormblood (SB)#A requiem for heroes (post SB)#Shadowbringer (Shadowbringers)#Death before dawn (Post SHB)#Endwalker (EW)#Journey to Eos (XV)#arrival in Valisthea (XVI)#Dragonsongs reprise (Alt HW)#Unwritten Future (eighth umbral calamity)
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Portrait of the Lord and Lady Greystone, c. 7th Astral Era, Ishgard. Artist unknown.
One of few surviving portraits from this era, and the only portrait of the Warrior of Light painted during her lifetime. It is believed that the Greystones sat for this painting sometime after their victory against Dragon-King Thordan, though records of the Eighth Umbral Calamity beginning shortly afterward cast doubts on the veracity of this claim.
____
i drew this like a year ago around when the seigneur outfit came out and only just now got around to coloring it lmao....... (the caption is a reference to my fic the paths not walked, wherein DSR is canon in the doomed timeline that the exarch came from)
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Can't possibly be me Zenosposting again - what is this a day ending in Y?
Anyway, I've been thinking about the murder boy again. This has mostly spawned from my replaying of the Stormblood patches and seeing Amnesiac Yotsuyu, which sparked a bit of a Nature vs Nuture debate between me and my friends.
Basically, my question for this post is "How much of Zenos' whole deal is Nature (aka He was just born like that) and how much of it is Nuture (aka the enviornment he grew up). Some of you might content to say Nature and leave it at that, which is a completely valid outlook to have.
But for me there's just one... teeny... tiny... little detail that has sent me on a wild consipriacy theory of a ride that's resulted in this post.
Emet-FUCKING-Selch.
Listen to me, listen okay? I cannot, CANNOT ignore the fact that this absoulete motherfucker (affectionate) is Zenos's cannonical Great Grandfather. Who was very much alive and kicking during his childhood.
Emet-Selch or Solus zos Galvus whatever moniker you wanna give the man, is an Ascian. One of THE Ascians. Not only that, he's 'The Architect" the guy who's job it is to design and engineer the calamities meant to rejoin the Shards of the World back together again.
What does he do to achieve this? He builds empires, he starts wars, manipulates people and situations to result in untold elemental chaos. Iirc correctly he's responsible for causing all eight calamities that have occured so far in FFXIV. (Eight got undone but I'm still counting it).
Now for this post I'm going to be focusing mainly on the Seventh, Eighth, and Fourth Umbral Calamities. (Which are the ones coincidentally we're told the most about in game).
This Calamities all involved Empires. The Allagan and the Garlean, both of which Emet-Selch was responsible for creating. From the Allagans we have the creation of Dalamud, Cyrus Tower, and the Ultima Weapon. As well as an extensive history of biological research. Cloning, Gene Splicing, Mutation and so on. (A sundered mortal's attempts at creation magjicks perhaps?)
The Garleans too, have a notible history of biological research, they draw a lot of their modern technology from Allagan design. No coincidence there given Emet-Selch's involvement. But we've seen them use genetic mutation, cyber augmentation, and cloning (Emet-Selch's shadow the hedgehog ass clone bodies because he refuses to look like anyone other than his unsundered self). The also so a lot of research into the Echo. Hydalyn's mark for her champions, and soul maipulation. (Ala Mihgo Dungeon and In From the Cold Duty both points of note for examples of the Soul being manipulated here - physically torn out of the body).
"Now Gengar " - I hear you ask - "What does this have to do with Nature vs Nuture or Zenos?"
Well, I tell you, everything really. Hear me out.
Emet-Selch designed the Garlean Empire to be the perfect chaos causing conquest force. They have no ability to use either, making them initially vulnerable as a people to the rest of the races. Building up a tasty, tasty resentment and need to feel superior. He sent them marching to 'reclaim their home' and then to 'unify the three contents under their superior peaceful, organised leadership'. The 'Savage Races' summon evil primals and weild evil distructive magjiks.
He gave them a perfect cause and reason to hate everyone else. He gave them magitech to level the field and make them supieror at combat. Garlemald as a nation is the perfect war machine. Allagan 2.0 if you would.
And Zenos is the perfect 'Champion' to lead that nation into battle. To spark that next Calamity.
Look at the guy. Garleans might be on the taller side (depending on the character. Cid is a shorty), but Varis and Zenos are HUGE. Emet-Selch isn't nearly as tall as either of them despite being a blood relation.
Which makes me think there was some of that Allagan/Garlean/Ancient playing with genetics and form at work. Make them bigger, more durable, stronger, more intelligent.
It's like Captian America. You want the perfect solider. And a perfect solider for Emet-Selch would also need to be cold, ruthless, manipulative.
There was a post I saw a while again about Mecha Pilots. And OP pondered on the idea of physcially having your brain and body contiditoned to love battle. To love destruction and killing and fighting.
Do you see where I am going with this?
You want someone bloodthirsty enough to cause a Calamity for you, you need them to feel nothing for their fellow man.
(Insects all of them. Disappointing. Found Wanting.)
You need them to find such overwhelming joy in battle that no other earthely pleasure can compare to it.
(Brilliant. Blinding. Trandsenant Moment.)
No attatchments. No emotions, Just violence.
I offer to you dear readers, that Emet-Selch carefully modified Zenos' litterally brain chemistry. Making him predisposed to a lack of empathy and his brain releasing those pesky joyous chemicals during battle. Inflicitng and feeling pain. I offer the theory that Zenos has literally been built for combat. If you cut him open, his bones and muscles and organs would be so alienly perfect. Denser, perfectly optimised. Exceedingly perfect. His brain remapped for pattern recognistion and quick skill building, Easy to train in the art of slaughter and tactics. Unable to forge the emotional connections that would only serve to hinder him. (To isolate him from family).
What evidence to I have? Outside of Emet-Selch's known history of building Empires?
Easy. I already know he's done this kind of thing before.
Vauthry. The baby Emet-Selch mutated into half a Lightwarden. Able to command the Sin Eaters and ensured would be raised into a tyranically, childish, king. To keep the First from Uniting. To ensure the Eighth Umbral Calamity would continue along it's march to completion.
Why wouldn't Emet-Selch have done as much to Zenos too?
#ffxiv#final fantasy xiv#zenos yae galvus#emet selch#solus zos galvus#DO YOU SEE IT?#DO YOU SEE MY VISION?#MY REVELATION?#IT'S HIS SPECIAL BOY BONE STRUCTURE GODDAMIT#It's the Frankenstien Allagory#You were *made* monsterous and alien#Body Bone and Mind#Designed to be PERFECT#but Perfect for what?#ghostly rambles
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I like that the Final Fantasy XIV narrative doesn’t let sleeping dogs lie.
Like, “Why isn’t anyone trying to become an adventurer?” They are. They either are worn out, forced to retire or killed by trying to do the same dungeons you are.
“Why isn’t anyone else trying to face down these raid challenges?” They are. The Omnicrons sent Omega with the task of capture Midgardsormr but also to face the strongest fighters in all dimensions to give their planet a future beyond conquest but also to face the end. But should Omega defeat us, it would of ultimately failed because by the time it returned to Omnicron’s planet, it would of been gone. Consumed by Meteion and thus Omega’s mission was doomed to begin with.
“Why isn’t anyone else trying to fix the corruption of the land?” They are. The Ascians are just trying to recreate their old world and hope to fix what happened so long ago. But in the process are destroying the very world they claim to love. And ultimately, because the Thirteenth Shard is “doomed”. No matter how they’re going about it, right or wrong their goal was unobtainable from the very beginning.
“Why wasn’t anyone else preparing for Meteion’s return?” They were. Sharlayan was. But they were going about it in the worst possible way and even if we had to flee via Moon. We were just delaying the inevitable confrontation with the Endsinger.
Literally, YOU, the Warrior of Light are the only future for the universe. Because YOU are facing down these dungeons that would get the average adventurer killed, YOU are blessed with the gift to help you fight the false Gods that not even the full brunt of the Eorzean Alliance can face, YOU are the one to break the stalemate of Eorzea and Garlemald, help break the shackles of tyranny and light the flames of Revolution in Doma and Ala Mhigo, YOU who will push out the old hundred year teachings of the Holy See and force Ishgard to finally rejoin the world, YOU who is the key piece in saving both the First Shard and the Source from an Eighth Umbral Calamity, and YOU who will face the ends of the universe and come out on top when so many others would and have failed to buck an all consuming despair.
And while you COULD face these all alone, you are not alone. You have adventurers novice to retired willingly to aid and test you, the highest ranking military and political officials to back you, from pirates to noblemen willing to ship you to and fro and grant you sanctuary in distant lands, a man enamored and believing in your old tale, he abandons his time line to save at least one of ours, the support of an old mentor and Goddess to give you one final test, and the support network of your friends and colleagues to light the way through despair and bring forth the hopes and dreams of the universe.
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look. guys. gals. non-binary pals.
shadowbringers spoilers
Emet-Selch was winning. By all metrics, right until the Unsundered tripped over our Warrior of Light and it all started unravelling like a loosely knitted cardigan, the Convocation of Three was at the crest and just starting the downhill slide to utter victory.
Hydaelyn was leaking the last of her strength like a punctured balloon. Midgardsormr had to cut us off from the teat for awhile as our drain could easily have been the end of the Mother - if it turned out we weren't the right Chosen One and she had to somehow struggle on just that little bit further, she had almost nothing left in reserve.
The Eighth Umbral Calamity was being held back by a thread. Nearly all of the First was lost, Light was starting to pour through the cracks into the Source and Black Rose was right there to receive and amplify it as the perfect confluence of events, oh so carefully set up by our darling empire-builder.
We've all got our opinions about why Emet-Selch engineered his own defeat, but please don't say its because he was desperate and losing. He wasn't. They weren't. He could have simply stepped back for a nap for a hundred more years and returned to pick it all back up again with nary a blink of his golden eye, reset the pieces and played again. And again. And again, for as long as necessary. The fact that he didn't is the most interesting thing out of all of it because he objectively had the higher ground and could so easily have kept it - and chose not to.
Hydaelyn would have been swept away, if they'd managed just one more Ardor. Just one more, that's all they needed, they were so close.
____
yes, i read another post about how emet-selch knew he was on the ropes and was grateful to be stopped before "it went too far". blech. ack. noooooo. so wrong.
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Variety of Writing Prompts:
"I'll take care of the matters here while you're away."
He was dithering. He knew he was dithering. The spells were in place. The Tower fairly glowed with the energy they had infused in it. Down in the basement, the amalgamation of Alexander and Allagan technology hummed, awaiting his command.
All was in readiness.
Except for him.
Turning back, he met his companion's eyes, his own grown suspiciously damp. And the Roegadyn smiled, reaching out to place a great hand atop his head. "Nay, don't look at me like that," he said in a voice that held echoes of his many-times ancestor, a voice that never failed to make his heart twinge. "Ye need t' go, and I need t' stay. Don't you worry, I'll take care of th' matters here whilst yer away."
"Biggs, I..."
Reaching up, Biggs, proud bearer of that noble name, pulled off the slim shades that covered his eyes. "Go, G'raha Tia," he said with unwonted gentleness. "Go and save the world that should have been. Go and save your hero. Go. Go and save mankind."
G'raha Tia rubbed his hand along his arm and gazed up into those dark eyes, crinkled at the corners from the big man's smile. "Good bye, my friend," he whispered.
Biggs only smiled and made a shooing gesture, and the miqo'te could find no more reason to delay. Without a word, he turned and trudged slowly towards the entrance to the Tower, while Biggs watched him go, hands clasped before him, face impassive.
It was only when the great doors sealed behind him and the Tower began to shine that Biggs spoke. "Go, my friend. Go and be a hero."
Then he turned away, retreating from the Tower as it began to shimmer and shine, caught up in the temporal and teleportational magics that would rip it from this godsforsaken future to some distant past, where G'raha Tia would use its magics to secure the right timeline - and, doing so, would finally bring an end to their misery.
Hope. He'd toiled for it so long, but until this moment, he'd never actually felt it. It felt warm. It felt light. It felt...
Good.
It felt good.
Original Ask Meme
Thank you for the ask!
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Roevember Day 23: Elezen Pal
"Even were there no Eighth Umbral Calamity to forestall, it seemeth only right that I strive to deliver the First from its doom... and young Minfilia from the heavy burden upon her shoulders. I would ask for thy aid with the latter, in particular... if thou art willing."
"Of course I am. My feelings are what they are, but... I can't ignore the plights I see before me."
"Likewise. Thus do we labor. For those we have lost..."
"...For those we can yet save."
#ffxiv screenshots#ffxiv gpose#roevemberxiv#roevember 2023#roevember2023#femroe#urianger augurelt#yes this is part of the same storyline about Ryne as yesterday's Thancred shot#yes ellie will in fact have a bro(e)mance with all of the male Scions#the tall ones at least. alphinaud gets the “infinitely makefunofable little brother” treatment xD#also damn check out those guns on uri!! 👀#I think I may have accidentally put some custom scaling on him but it's fine. he deserves guns.
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More random ffxiv theorycrafting, sorry
What the Ascians meant to happen on the First is for Ardbert and company to kill Cylva, restoring peace to the land, and leaving five fully realized Warriors of Light to keep it that way. They would maintain peace and keep the shard from tilting back towards Dark at all, and were expected to keep it up long enough to trigger something on the Source.
What went wrong wasn't sparing Cylva, but going on to kill Mitron. Since Cylva was in fact a Warrior of Light and all the chaos she created was calculated, killing her wouldn't have had much impact on the balance, and neither did sparing her. But Mitron was a large enough fraction of the First's Darkness that his death caused a sudden drastic tip, and everything exploded.
(And Mitron turned into… that. Really cold of Emet-Selch and Elidibus to just leave him that way.)
I'm not sure what Elidibus was hoping to accomplish by bringing Ardbert et al to the Source, unless it was exactly what happened — get Hydaelyn to send an expert to stabilize things. (The 'warriors of darkness' may have been told they were hastening the rejoining, but I don't see how anything they did would have encouraged stasis/peace/light.) It seems unnecessarily oblique, but I guess Elidibus logic is a little special.
So they do get Hydaelyn to send an expert, who stops the Flood before it can completely consume the last 10% of the First. After that they can leave it mostly alone and work on the trigger on the Source.
When the Thirteenth was 100% overrun by Darkness, the Ascians decided it was unfit for rejoining. This time they apparently decided to bet that the remaining 10% was enough to keep the First viable.
And that's a possible reason the Eighth Umbral Calamity had to be unwritten — what if they were wrong? What if all that stasis, all those souls consumed by Light, couldn't be absorbed and rebalanced by the Source? So two centuries later there are still dead zones worldwide, and like half the population is haunted by corresponding sin eater soul fragments too corrupted to rejoin, but they know they should rejoin so they keep trying, and usually they kill the target by aetherial poisoning?
The Ascians panic and start unleashing Voidsent in the hopes an injection of Darkness will help. It does not. Eden-Mitron is roaming the seas attacking various islands. Okay that's beyond theories enough now.
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Krile!
What do we say about Krile? I think Rowan was a bit surprised at first that Krile didn't get summoned to the first with the rest of her friends when it came down to it. (Maybe she was on the Isle of Val when the Eighth Umbral Calamity hit, so therefore not part of the mythology of the Warrior of Light).
But Krile has always been a rather sturdy friend to her and the rest of the Scions since they met in Heavensward. If there's anyone she'd want to take to the First who hasn't already been, it would be Krile so she could meet Ryne, as she and Minfilia were good friends.
Thanks for the ask!
#ask meme#rowan argentas#krile#i'm honestly a bit sad that krile never got to see minfilia again after heavensward#and can't currently meet ryne to see her legacy#ahh alas#we'll see what unfolds
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