With 6.1 Newfound Adventure on the horizon, a new curtain rises on Etheirys. Here are some musings on where our next journeys will lead us. (Also, beware of Endwalker spoilers.)
Now, officially. We’ve laid down the mantle of the Warrior of Light. Kind of. There are no more Ascian plans to be foiled… right?
What’s Retirement for a Warrior of Light gonna look like?
Well, a Warrior of Light in function is just a hero that rises up to protect the people of the star and… Anyways! If director and producer Naoki Yoshida is to be believed, our next journey’s are all about adventure. Sure there are some major threats to step up to the plate eventually. But after saving the stars several times and facing despair itself. It is time to go back to do what we do best. Or what we’re meant to do, according to one grumpy friend of ours. Go out and seek discovery!
Final Fantasy XIV has a long history of offhandedly mentioning places and events, only to pick up on them again way later. We’ve known about the plight of Doma since A Realm Reborn, learned about the fate of the First in Heavensward and the struggles of Garlemald’s politics in Stormblood. In Endwalker alone there are plenty of places that were name dropped, some had been involved in raids, trials and other quests. Others we know nothing about. So join us while we try to introduce and excite you for the possibilities of what is to come…
Meracydia, the Southern Continent
Despite being prominently featured within Final Fantasy XIV’s story, we know very little about Meracydia. We do know that it’s home to two dragons of the first brood, Bahamut who we faced in the Binding Coil raids. And Tiamat, who we first meet in Heavensward and later become allies with. Meracydia was ruled by them and their brood before the Allagan Empire took it over. All of that happened sometime in and before the third astral era. Back then people lived in tribal societies, but lived in peace with another, or relatively. It’s also theorized to be the place of origin of both the Lalafell and Miqo’te.
Meracydia and the New World are far away places,
but we have a couple friends with Airships that can get us there.
But, we do know that Meracydia has been a home to Bahamut and Tiamat’s brood, which were largely tempered when the former was reincarnated as a primal. We also know that it’s the origin of the Warring Triad. (You can do that series of trials as the part of the award winning Heavensward expansion.) Meracydia was conquered sometime around 5000 years ago, under great effort by the Allagan Empire; who saw a golden age during that war. So, should we ever go there, we might find some leftovers and even more Allagan terrors. Currently there’s little about the current state of affairs, only that the native’s are terribly unfriendly. And that the southern continent is fully of curiosities from super fast fishes to sesame seeds.
A little curiosity on the side; at least some of the people there, worshipped, and maybe still worship a deity similar to Eorzea’s Warden. Azeyma. It’s a name and figure that reoccurs in many other cultures on the Source in similar forms.
The New World
Most of what we know about the New World — a great continent to the west— is of its exports. Veggies and fruits like tomato’s, pumpkins and so on. Well, that and the Blue Mage job, (the one with the weird guy called Martyn who might be the most powerful thing in the universe.) Anyways, the New World was ‘rediscovered’ some 80 years ago by Limsan sailors. And since the most recent calamity, Eorzean’s have been hard at work to establish trade networks.
We know a little bit of the people of the New World, many colorful races and two-headed kings. They seem to have some kind of federation between many tribes going which allows them to hold these lands. There is also the fact that they seem to be filthy rich. Fabled golden cities and casually gifting giant statues made from solid silver is a weird flex but hey. If it works? If you wanna know more about the New World now, you should seek out the Blue Mage quests.
Hingashi in the Ruby Sea
Kugane is actually just a small part of Hingashi’s whole. It’s currently the only port open to foreigners.
While we’ve visited Kugane in Stormblood, we’ve yet to see Hingashi proper. Its made up of two isles, Shishu the smaller one and the mainland Koshu. While Hingashi is a mostly neutral nation, a place built upon something called the Age of Blood has definitely something to hide. It’s also the point of origin for the Samurai, the Ninja and the Geomancer’s we meet in some FATE’s and the Astrologian quest.
Only Kugane’s port is open to the wider world, while the rest of Hingashi remains a mystery. We know that they worship the kami, spirits of sorts. And is ruled by the Bakufu, which seems to have some corruption going on. (If we go by the dungeon story of Kugane Castle.) So that’s a place worth exploring with the potential for at least a zone and a dungeon.
Corvos
Corvos is a place that had been name dropped suspiciously often during Endwalkers Main Quest. But for those who’ve forgotten, here’s a little reminder on what it is; A former Allagan outpost, long long ago where they brought the first Miqo’te to Ilsabard. Those Miqo’te would later become wardens of that place, one family of them was even blessed with Allagan Royal blood. We happen to know an offspring of those Miqo’te as G’raha Tia. It’s also fabled to be the original Homeland of the Garlean people, with fertile lands and fields of gold. (And lots of Allagan leftover tech apparently.) Conquered during Garlemalds initial invasion, it also came under the protection of one House Darnus. We faced off against Nael van Darnus of that house during the end of 1.0 and the Binding Coils of Bahamut Raids. Apparently it was hit really hard by the Final Days.
The Royal City of Rabanastre was bombed by the Garlean Empire
after the events of Stormblood to quell any other upstart rebellion.
Dalmasca and the Near East
Dalmasca needs little introduction to Final Fantasy XII fans, but it has also been quite prominent within Final Fantasy XIV’s lore. The plot of Final Fantasy Tactics and Final Fantasy XII also happened somewhat in the world of XIV — but of course, a little different yet again.
Refer to the Return to Ivalice Alliance Raids for that. It would be cool to see recreations of some classic locations outside of the Raids, but Rabanastre has also been bombed to hell and back by the Garleans. Maybe another reconstruction effort? Maybe more housing? There are also the Viera we have yet to visit in their native lands! We could also chase after some more stories of the Zodiac Braves.
On the other end, the Near East is actually a quite large area to cover. We have been to Thavnair in Endwalker, but there is also the Bounty. Apparently there is treasure there beyond the waves. And along the southern Ilsabardian shoreline there is still alot on the map to be uncovered. One of those places is Werlyt, we’ve travelled there in the Shadowbringer’s Weapon Trials. So it would be great to look around, help out and reconnect with an enemy turned ally.
The Void and Other Reflections
The Void is also a place that comes up surprisingly often, especially in comparison to how much we actually know about it. But here’s a little recap; the Void was supposed to be the first reflection to be rejoined. But our robed Ascian friends messed up and plunged that world into darkness. This happened because its alignment has tipped too far into Astral — which in Final Fantasy XIV means activity. The Void is best imagined as a kind of black hole, hungry for more and more aether. Its denizens adapted to those conditions by also taking on a vampiric nature. While the Void is somewhat addressed at the end of the Shadowbringer’s Rolequests. It would be cool to go there in the near future!
Now, with seven successful rejoinings. The Void and the First taken off our checklist that leaves us with five more reflections of the source. Thing is, we know nothing about them, like nothing at all. We can only assume that these reflection’s are largely untouched, thanks to now having calamities. And with the flow of time between reflections being obstructed, who knows. We could spend some time in a Steampunk Scifi version of Eorzea in one expansion. Good old Emet Selch said the reflections will surprise us.. so surprise me!
Soon to come!
And other Secrets to Lift
And those are just some of the places that we actually know something about. What about the War of the Magi? The great war between three nations that happened really about? We still know scarcely anything about it—even with a bunch of dungeons and a raid. And we have time travel right? We could visit the beginnings of the Allagan Empire and see it for ourselves. What about the rest of Ilsabard? We’ve only been to Garlemald, what about that floating island on the map above it? That can’t be Azys La right? And then there is the forth era, an ice age we know nothing about. We also know absolutely nothing about the first and second era, only that magic happened. And moogles!
With the Myths of the Realm Alliance Raid starting with 6.1, we’ll at least finally dig a little into the creation myth of our world. Maybe we’ll finally get to find out why some version of Azem shows up in many cultures without fail.
And hear us out here.. what if.. we went to look for grapes in the world unsundered?
We see no reason to worry that Final Fantasy XIV’s story will end anytime soon. Our journey is far from over. Hopefully it will never end.
More on Final Fantasy XIV here on ESTNN.