Final Fantasy XIV-2

A world of seven Calamities, this is a world of swords, sorcery, and technology, in which the forces that vie for control are mere puppets to shadowy figures.

Type: Blossom

Active Characters

C'dakhi Tia

Overview

The world of Hydaelyn teems with "aether", their term for the energy of magic. All sorts of ways of tapping into this power exist, and it leads to a staggering variety of creatures, cultures, and species.

But where there is diversity there is also disagreement. Different cultures abound, approaching life in different ways, leading to friction and, at times, war.

This is a world where people try to prosper and flourish, but where mistakes were made -- and continue to be made. Seven near-apocalypses, wars of idealogy waged with magical technology versus traditional arts, and of course political maneuvering... to say nothing of the seven Umbral Calamities that have rocked the world.

It is a world of wonders like massive airships and magical skill-granting crystals, yet also a world where nature itself may lash out against the technology that seems poised to utterly destroy it. A world where pirates in wooden galleons waylay ships made with exotic technology... and succeed. Where ancient powers bide in the shadows, corrupting those who are weak to its whispers. And none can say what their true goals are.

History

The world of Hydaelyn teems with magic -- aether, the people call it. Almost all of Hydaelyn's people -- from the most powerful mage to the least experienced artisan -- can tap into this resource, whether in skills or use of crystals.

However, the Garleans eventually went from being bullied by every aether-using people to threatening the survival of the greater world with their magitek machines capable of manipulating aether where they could not.

The Great Empire of Garlemald sought first to subjugate the land of Eorzea, and then pull the second smaller moon, Dalamud, down out of the sky to attempt to crash it into Eorzea and destroy it.

But Dalamud was no moon; it was a high-tech containment device made by an ancient technologically-advanced empire. This plan released what was inside it -- Bahamut, the elder primal. Bahamut would have destroyed the world were it not for the Archon Louisoix Leveilleur.

No one's quite sure what he did, nor does anyone remember the names or faces of those who fought against Bahamut. But after a handful of years things seemed to have calmed down. Garlemald was even beaten back! On the eve of what they believed to be their triumph against Eorzea -- using essentially a magical nerve gas called "Black Rose" -- their stores of this chemical were destroyed, their emperor Varis zos Galvus assasinated, and his son Zenos yae Galvus ascended the throne. Changes were wrought in the Empire that none understood save Zenos himself.

It's this world, one wracked by uncertainty and fear, that joins the World Tree.

Timeline

This world's timeline places it just before Endwalker. The Crystal Exarch's desperate attempts to reach across the worlds to pull the Warrior of Light to the location where the most good could be done were just that -- desperate, grabbing attempts. During one of these desperate grabs, the world of Hydaelyn was joined to the World Tree.

Magic

Magical abilities are more than just the norm here, they're expected of the people who live here. Exceptions would be the Garleans, the people that were born in Garlemald and descended from the magicless people that were pushed away from Eorzea so long ago. The people of this world are doubtless going to assume that any special powers shown by offworlders are magical in origin.

Technology

While small bits of technology like tomestones (much like a smartphone) are not unusual for being in the possession of the typical person, the greater part of the world has very little in the way of greater technologies such as air conditioning (just use ice crystals), transportation vehicles (chocobos or various animal mounts, or carriages drawn by said animals will suffice), or other such technology that more modern-type worlds take for granted.

The exception to this is Garlond Ironworks, headed up by Cid nan Garlond, formerly of Garlemald, who makes airships; these were not widely used due to the Garleans' penchant for shooting them out of the air, but with Garlemald now turning its gaze to the troubles in its own territories, that's likely to change. However, due to the Empire of Garlemald's reliance on large, destructive magitech devices, the people of Hydaelyn are likely to view such things as large pieces of technology with distrust.

Tighter Focus

This version of the Final Fantasy XIV theme is meant to focus on smaller issues than the destruction of the world, and the struggle between Hydaelyn and Zodiark. While the Warrior of Light and the Scions of the Seventh Dawn go off to battle in every corner of the cosmos for the salvation of worlds, who is left behind to see to smaller struggles? Will you be one of those aiding the smallfolk? Or will you too pass them by for greater adventures?

The Echo

Occurances of the Echo are quite rare. However, it is NOT exclusive to the Warrior of Light, they merely have the strongest iteration of the Echo that exists.

The Echo usually manifests as visions of the past, preternatural insight, and the ability to understand the spoken words of anyone who speaks. However, some people have one aspect stronger than the others (Krile Baldesion is extremely empathic and easily picks up on people's deepest emotions), and there is plenty of room for variations of the core Echo abilities (Mikoto Jinba, an NPC related to the instanced content Bozja, sees the future instead of the past). In addition, some with the Echo can serve as the conduit of Hydaelyn's Voice for a short period of time.