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Eorzea 201 ☘ video + text via Emeraldd
[ it's Era! and she's ready for another info-dump - this time with a lot of text instead to spare her vocal cords.
She's incredibly petite, and she doesn't have ears but horns instead - they're quite clearly attached to her head where someone's ears would normally be. Pale scales line her skin in various places, most noticeably on the forearms, neck, forehead, cheeks, and the bridge of her nose.
When she speaks her voice is soft and quiet, but with a steel to it that demands attention and resepct. ]
Hello, I am Era Ra and I am not from any version of the planet 'Earth'. I am an Au Ra whose home is the region of Eorzea on the planet of Hydaelyn.
I made a video lesson two moons ago with some basic information about mine and Aymeric's home world, and Emeraldd shall include a 'link' to the recording... [ she falters, unfamiliar with how this 'linking' of 'files' works. ] ...Somewhere in this post, I believe?
[ and Emeraldd does indeed include an attached file here: tldr101. ]
I outlined the basic geography of Hydaelyn in my previous post, and spoke of the city-states and various races. Since then some of the information has become outdated - Ala Mhigo and Doma are both now free of Garlean rule.
Ala Mhigo is being rebuilt by the Ala Mhigans, and will be led by Lyse Hext for the foreseeable future. Doma is now ruled once again by its rightful heir, Prince Hien.
Liberating Ala Mhigo has been a great victory for the Eorzean Alliance. The bonds between city-states have been forged ever stronger through the fires of war, and though there were many lives lost during the conflict they were not lost in vain.
But that is not what I had planned to speak of in this second lesson - I mean to speak of more basic differences between my world and the various 'Earths' that many of you hail from.
[ she then switches to text, because she would rather not burn her voice out again. ]
Hydaelyn has twelve months, each ruled by a different deity from our pantheon and aligned with an element. The translation of this world's months into Hydaelyn's is as follows, including their ruling deity and element:
January - First Astral Moon - Halone - Ice
February - First Umbral Moon - Mephina - Ice
March - Second Astral Moon - Thaliak - Water
April - Second Umbral Moon - Nymeia - Water
May - Third Astral Moon - Llymlaen - Wind
June - Third Umbral Moon - Oschon - Wind
July - Fourth Astral Moon - Byregot - Lightning
August - Fourth Umbral Moon - Rhalgr - Lightning
September - Fifth Astral Moon - Azemya - Fire
October - Fifth Umbral Moon - Nald'thal - Fire
November - Sixth Astral Moon - Nophica - Earth
December - Sixth Umbral Moon - Althyk - Earth
Our weeks are also not seven days, but eight. As such I'm not sure what the direct translations would be, but our days of the week are: Firesday, Earthsday, Watersday, Windsday, Iceday, Lightningday, Lightsday, Darksday.
If there is any interest in the pantheon of Hydaelyn I can go into more detail at a later date.
Recent conversation referenced an ancient civilization of Earth, which brought to mind the ancient civilizations of Eorzea. I am not an expert in their history, but here is an overview of Hydaelyn's more ancient peoples:
The Allag Empire.
Likely the most well-known ancient civilization in Eorzea. The Allagan Empire was founded by Emperor Xande in the Third Astral Era, well over five thousand years ago. At its peak, the Empire encompassed the majority of Hydaelyn, holding an innumerable populace under its sway. Allag's might came largely from its incredible mastery of science and magic. They were capable of extensive bioengineering, could craft massive space-faring vehicles, and even learned of a method to bind Primals to the physical world.
As generations passed Allag would gradually become stagnant and enter a decline, in part due to a lack of strong leadership. To restore it to prosperity, a technologist and magician named Amon sought to revive Xande as a means of providing the Empire with its strongest leader for eternity. Amon had ultimately succeeded, and the reborn Xande returned the Allagans to their former glory.
But Xande was ultimately not satisfied; having never fulfilled his original ambitions of conquering the entirety of Hydaelyn in his first life, Xande was determined to complete that goal in his second. To do this he sought the forbidden power of the Voidsent. Since the Crystal Tower (a grand tower that provided the empire with its energy) itself wasn't capable of maintaining the power to create a stable portal to the Realm of Darkness, Xande had the Elder Primal Bahamut placed in the artificial moon Dalamud for the purpose of harnessing solar energy needed to enable the dark covenant.
The conquests of Xande and the resurgent spread of the Allagan Empire led to discontentment, and it is implied that numerous uprisings took place in the Empire's final days. In an act of desperation, Xande attempted to transfer the full energy of Dalamud into the Crystal Tower in order to complete his pact and tear open a rift to the World of Darkness. This would ultimately be too much for the Tower to maintain and excess energy escaped into the ground, resulting in a catastrophic earthquake that would lay the mighty Allagan Empire to waste and usher in the Fourth Umbral Era. With the Crystal Tower buried, the civilization almost entirely reliant on its energy plummeted into utter chaos.
Though the civilization and its culture faded away, their relics remain scattered across Eorzea. It is through the remnants of Allag that the magic of Summoning was rediscovered.
The Kingdom of Nym.
A nation that flourished on the island of Vlybrand, they were masters of arcanima - the arcane arts. They were not a particularly large country, but made up for their small size in sophistication. The Wanderer's Palace at Bronze Lake and the Floating City of Nym, both in La Noscea are two of their best known surviving structures.
he Nymians took Oschon the Wanderer as their patron deity, and built the Wanderer's Palace in veneration of him. The Nymians were able, through unclear means, to use crystals to make certain sections of the city float in the sky, giving rise to the title "The Floating City of Nym." Nym's flotation was likely developed out of a need for defense, due to recurring wars with the mainlanders of Aldenard.
They researched both the light arts and the void arts, but never developed 'Black' or 'White' magic like their contemporaries did. Instead they worked with arcanima, eventually creating the famed Nymian Scholars and their faeries. They produced warriors of great martial and magical both that were feared by the Amdapori and Mhachi. The Nymians often interceded in the conflict between the two warring civilizations.
The city-state was finally laid low by a disease known as the "Green Death," a plague that transformed many of its citizens into tonberries. The disease was brought back by seafaring traders who were rescued by a tribe of Lalafellin on an island in the south seas. Many of the afflicted would remain quarantined within the Wanderer's Palace, where they survive even into the present day. Among those was a scholar named Surito Carito.
The plague was caused by an ampoule the traders had brought back; specifically, a voidsent haagenti named Bitoso bound inside the ampoule - a trap set by the void mages of Mhach to destroy the city-state of Nym.
Amdapor.
Very little is known of Amdapor. It existed in what is now the Black Shroud during the Fifth Astral Era. It was the birthplace of white magic, which had been developed in response to the great sorceress Shatotto's invention of black magic. The city was eventually consumed by the War of the Magi and the resulting Sixth Umbral Era.
Some believed that the ruins of Amdapor were part of the underground city of Gelmorra, but they were merely a short-lived nation founded by mages who ended up destroying themselves with the spells they unleashed.
Mhach.
The Mhachi thrived in the northwest of Mor Dhona. Very little is known about them, other than the sinister reputation of its void mages, who summoned otherworldly beings to attack their enemies in the War of the Magi: the contemporary city-states of Nym and Amdapor. As safety precaution against the voidsent going rogue, the void mages developed the Nullstone as a means to obliterate them and kept it secure within a great pyramid in the city proper.
Using an elaborate trap, the Mhach tricked a Nymian sea galley into bringing an ampoule to their home nation containing a voidsent named Bitoso. This voidsent would unleash a devastating plague called the "Green Death," which transformed many Nymians into tonberries. In their warfare against Amdapor, they unleashed Diabolos and Ferdiad. The white mages were able to seal the great voidsent deep within the Lost City of Amdapor and Amdapor Keep.
As the War of the Magi's damaging effects on the realm's aether began to push the Elementals into retribution, the void mages learned that a great flood would soon engulf the world. Seeking to evade the coming calamity, the Mhachi prepared a great ark to take to the skies. To power such a vessel, the void mages bound a thousand Voidsent within the vessel that included the Shadow Queen Scathach, whose presence was ultimately the Mhachi people's undoing as half a hundred voidmages sacrificed themselves to reseal the rampant voidsent with the ark disappearing into the sky. The Nullstone was kept in its securely warded tomb, in hopes the rising floodwaters would deny any Voidsent access to the artifact.
The Underground City of Gelmorra
Gelmorra was an ancient civilization that predated Gridania. They were predominately subterranean, responsible for the construction of the four dungeons beneath the Black Shroud: Mun-Tuy Cellars, Tam-Tara Deepcroft, The Thousand Maws of Toto-Rak, and Palace of the Dead. They had only one above-ground structure to anyone's knowledge: the Gelmorra Ruins near Lasthold.
It was after the wanton misuse of aetheric energies that led to the great flood of the Sixth Umbral Era that magic became a forbidden art, and the Elementals of the Twelveswood would not suffer the presence of mankind any longer. Driven underground, the Hyur and the Elezen grew to accept one another in the subterranean cities of Gelmorra that they built together.
Many generations later the Gelmorrans learned to commune and cooperate with the elementals, bringing about the dawn of Conjury as we know it, as well as the earliest known Padjal. As the people once more migrated to the forests above they founded Gridania, and for centuries a tense but stable peace has been retained between mankind and elementals with the help of the Padjal and the "Hearers" (conjurers who can hear the elementals' words).
The underground structures of Gelmorra fell into disuse, and now fester with hostile vilekin and seedkin. They are still utterly fascinating regardless of their current state.
The Gelmorra ruins are of particular significance to the Duskwight Elezen. Given their physiology and social distrust, it is likely they remained within Gelmorra longer than the Wildwood and adapted to the darkness.
The Sultanate of Belah'Dia
A nation that predates Ul'dah in the Thanalan region in the early Sixth Astral Era. It eventually split into two city-states due to a succession crisis.
They seemed to worship Azeyma the Warden, the goddess of the Sun.
The Sultanate of Sil'Dih
Sil'dih existed in Thanalan as a sister City-state to Ul'dah, both having been born from Belah'dia. It was ruled by the King of Springs, King Lalawefu, and his financial reforms brought the city-state prosperity, but a combination of tax increases and untimely droughts led to civil unrest. The flood control developed by this nation soon drew the attention of the parched Ul'dahn citizenry, and a de facto war broke out.
The two nations were equally matched, until Ul'dahn thaumaturges devised a powder capable of turning the dead into zombies. Ul'dah used their catapults to cast the powder inside the city in order to have the dead attack the living. To explain the anguished screams, Ul'dah fabricated a tale that Sil'dih had started turning their dead into zombies in order to win the war. This was used this to justify an official declaration of war, and in their triumphant crusade sealed the gates of Sil'dih, wiping them out with their own perverse plague.
Ruins of Sil'dih can be visited in Central and Western Thanalan, recently uncovered during the Calamity. Before the rediscovery of these ruins the civilization was nearly forgotten.
The grandness and elegance of the aqueducts suggested Sil'dih rivaled, or even surpassed, Ul'dah in architectural aptitude. That they were more-or-less forgotten until recently suggests Ul'dah wanted to forget them and tried to erase them from history, or that they either lacked the means or motivation to keep adequate records.
((ooc: again, if any of this is not 100% lore-accurate pretend that it is. bc Era is a smartypants and I am not. and I also don't have the Encyclopedia Eorzea yet for referencing. q_q))
She's incredibly petite, and she doesn't have ears but horns instead - they're quite clearly attached to her head where someone's ears would normally be. Pale scales line her skin in various places, most noticeably on the forearms, neck, forehead, cheeks, and the bridge of her nose.
When she speaks her voice is soft and quiet, but with a steel to it that demands attention and resepct. ]
Hello, I am Era Ra and I am not from any version of the planet 'Earth'. I am an Au Ra whose home is the region of Eorzea on the planet of Hydaelyn.
I made a video lesson two moons ago with some basic information about mine and Aymeric's home world, and Emeraldd shall include a 'link' to the recording... [ she falters, unfamiliar with how this 'linking' of 'files' works. ] ...Somewhere in this post, I believe?
[ and Emeraldd does indeed include an attached file here: tldr101. ]
I outlined the basic geography of Hydaelyn in my previous post, and spoke of the city-states and various races. Since then some of the information has become outdated - Ala Mhigo and Doma are both now free of Garlean rule.
Ala Mhigo is being rebuilt by the Ala Mhigans, and will be led by Lyse Hext for the foreseeable future. Doma is now ruled once again by its rightful heir, Prince Hien.
Liberating Ala Mhigo has been a great victory for the Eorzean Alliance. The bonds between city-states have been forged ever stronger through the fires of war, and though there were many lives lost during the conflict they were not lost in vain.
But that is not what I had planned to speak of in this second lesson - I mean to speak of more basic differences between my world and the various 'Earths' that many of you hail from.
[ she then switches to text, because she would rather not burn her voice out again. ]
Hydaelyn has twelve months, each ruled by a different deity from our pantheon and aligned with an element. The translation of this world's months into Hydaelyn's is as follows, including their ruling deity and element:
January - First Astral Moon - Halone - Ice
February - First Umbral Moon - Mephina - Ice
March - Second Astral Moon - Thaliak - Water
April - Second Umbral Moon - Nymeia - Water
May - Third Astral Moon - Llymlaen - Wind
June - Third Umbral Moon - Oschon - Wind
July - Fourth Astral Moon - Byregot - Lightning
August - Fourth Umbral Moon - Rhalgr - Lightning
September - Fifth Astral Moon - Azemya - Fire
October - Fifth Umbral Moon - Nald'thal - Fire
November - Sixth Astral Moon - Nophica - Earth
December - Sixth Umbral Moon - Althyk - Earth
Our weeks are also not seven days, but eight. As such I'm not sure what the direct translations would be, but our days of the week are: Firesday, Earthsday, Watersday, Windsday, Iceday, Lightningday, Lightsday, Darksday.
If there is any interest in the pantheon of Hydaelyn I can go into more detail at a later date.
Recent conversation referenced an ancient civilization of Earth, which brought to mind the ancient civilizations of Eorzea. I am not an expert in their history, but here is an overview of Hydaelyn's more ancient peoples:
The Allag Empire.
Likely the most well-known ancient civilization in Eorzea. The Allagan Empire was founded by Emperor Xande in the Third Astral Era, well over five thousand years ago. At its peak, the Empire encompassed the majority of Hydaelyn, holding an innumerable populace under its sway. Allag's might came largely from its incredible mastery of science and magic. They were capable of extensive bioengineering, could craft massive space-faring vehicles, and even learned of a method to bind Primals to the physical world.
As generations passed Allag would gradually become stagnant and enter a decline, in part due to a lack of strong leadership. To restore it to prosperity, a technologist and magician named Amon sought to revive Xande as a means of providing the Empire with its strongest leader for eternity. Amon had ultimately succeeded, and the reborn Xande returned the Allagans to their former glory.
But Xande was ultimately not satisfied; having never fulfilled his original ambitions of conquering the entirety of Hydaelyn in his first life, Xande was determined to complete that goal in his second. To do this he sought the forbidden power of the Voidsent. Since the Crystal Tower (a grand tower that provided the empire with its energy) itself wasn't capable of maintaining the power to create a stable portal to the Realm of Darkness, Xande had the Elder Primal Bahamut placed in the artificial moon Dalamud for the purpose of harnessing solar energy needed to enable the dark covenant.
The conquests of Xande and the resurgent spread of the Allagan Empire led to discontentment, and it is implied that numerous uprisings took place in the Empire's final days. In an act of desperation, Xande attempted to transfer the full energy of Dalamud into the Crystal Tower in order to complete his pact and tear open a rift to the World of Darkness. This would ultimately be too much for the Tower to maintain and excess energy escaped into the ground, resulting in a catastrophic earthquake that would lay the mighty Allagan Empire to waste and usher in the Fourth Umbral Era. With the Crystal Tower buried, the civilization almost entirely reliant on its energy plummeted into utter chaos.
Though the civilization and its culture faded away, their relics remain scattered across Eorzea. It is through the remnants of Allag that the magic of Summoning was rediscovered.
The Kingdom of Nym.
A nation that flourished on the island of Vlybrand, they were masters of arcanima - the arcane arts. They were not a particularly large country, but made up for their small size in sophistication. The Wanderer's Palace at Bronze Lake and the Floating City of Nym, both in La Noscea are two of their best known surviving structures.
he Nymians took Oschon the Wanderer as their patron deity, and built the Wanderer's Palace in veneration of him. The Nymians were able, through unclear means, to use crystals to make certain sections of the city float in the sky, giving rise to the title "The Floating City of Nym." Nym's flotation was likely developed out of a need for defense, due to recurring wars with the mainlanders of Aldenard.
They researched both the light arts and the void arts, but never developed 'Black' or 'White' magic like their contemporaries did. Instead they worked with arcanima, eventually creating the famed Nymian Scholars and their faeries. They produced warriors of great martial and magical both that were feared by the Amdapori and Mhachi. The Nymians often interceded in the conflict between the two warring civilizations.
The city-state was finally laid low by a disease known as the "Green Death," a plague that transformed many of its citizens into tonberries. The disease was brought back by seafaring traders who were rescued by a tribe of Lalafellin on an island in the south seas. Many of the afflicted would remain quarantined within the Wanderer's Palace, where they survive even into the present day. Among those was a scholar named Surito Carito.
The plague was caused by an ampoule the traders had brought back; specifically, a voidsent haagenti named Bitoso bound inside the ampoule - a trap set by the void mages of Mhach to destroy the city-state of Nym.
Amdapor.
Very little is known of Amdapor. It existed in what is now the Black Shroud during the Fifth Astral Era. It was the birthplace of white magic, which had been developed in response to the great sorceress Shatotto's invention of black magic. The city was eventually consumed by the War of the Magi and the resulting Sixth Umbral Era.
Some believed that the ruins of Amdapor were part of the underground city of Gelmorra, but they were merely a short-lived nation founded by mages who ended up destroying themselves with the spells they unleashed.
Mhach.
The Mhachi thrived in the northwest of Mor Dhona. Very little is known about them, other than the sinister reputation of its void mages, who summoned otherworldly beings to attack their enemies in the War of the Magi: the contemporary city-states of Nym and Amdapor. As safety precaution against the voidsent going rogue, the void mages developed the Nullstone as a means to obliterate them and kept it secure within a great pyramid in the city proper.
Using an elaborate trap, the Mhach tricked a Nymian sea galley into bringing an ampoule to their home nation containing a voidsent named Bitoso. This voidsent would unleash a devastating plague called the "Green Death," which transformed many Nymians into tonberries. In their warfare against Amdapor, they unleashed Diabolos and Ferdiad. The white mages were able to seal the great voidsent deep within the Lost City of Amdapor and Amdapor Keep.
As the War of the Magi's damaging effects on the realm's aether began to push the Elementals into retribution, the void mages learned that a great flood would soon engulf the world. Seeking to evade the coming calamity, the Mhachi prepared a great ark to take to the skies. To power such a vessel, the void mages bound a thousand Voidsent within the vessel that included the Shadow Queen Scathach, whose presence was ultimately the Mhachi people's undoing as half a hundred voidmages sacrificed themselves to reseal the rampant voidsent with the ark disappearing into the sky. The Nullstone was kept in its securely warded tomb, in hopes the rising floodwaters would deny any Voidsent access to the artifact.
The Underground City of Gelmorra
Gelmorra was an ancient civilization that predated Gridania. They were predominately subterranean, responsible for the construction of the four dungeons beneath the Black Shroud: Mun-Tuy Cellars, Tam-Tara Deepcroft, The Thousand Maws of Toto-Rak, and Palace of the Dead. They had only one above-ground structure to anyone's knowledge: the Gelmorra Ruins near Lasthold.
It was after the wanton misuse of aetheric energies that led to the great flood of the Sixth Umbral Era that magic became a forbidden art, and the Elementals of the Twelveswood would not suffer the presence of mankind any longer. Driven underground, the Hyur and the Elezen grew to accept one another in the subterranean cities of Gelmorra that they built together.
Many generations later the Gelmorrans learned to commune and cooperate with the elementals, bringing about the dawn of Conjury as we know it, as well as the earliest known Padjal. As the people once more migrated to the forests above they founded Gridania, and for centuries a tense but stable peace has been retained between mankind and elementals with the help of the Padjal and the "Hearers" (conjurers who can hear the elementals' words).
The underground structures of Gelmorra fell into disuse, and now fester with hostile vilekin and seedkin. They are still utterly fascinating regardless of their current state.
The Gelmorra ruins are of particular significance to the Duskwight Elezen. Given their physiology and social distrust, it is likely they remained within Gelmorra longer than the Wildwood and adapted to the darkness.
The Sultanate of Belah'Dia
A nation that predates Ul'dah in the Thanalan region in the early Sixth Astral Era. It eventually split into two city-states due to a succession crisis.
They seemed to worship Azeyma the Warden, the goddess of the Sun.
The Sultanate of Sil'Dih
Sil'dih existed in Thanalan as a sister City-state to Ul'dah, both having been born from Belah'dia. It was ruled by the King of Springs, King Lalawefu, and his financial reforms brought the city-state prosperity, but a combination of tax increases and untimely droughts led to civil unrest. The flood control developed by this nation soon drew the attention of the parched Ul'dahn citizenry, and a de facto war broke out.
The two nations were equally matched, until Ul'dahn thaumaturges devised a powder capable of turning the dead into zombies. Ul'dah used their catapults to cast the powder inside the city in order to have the dead attack the living. To explain the anguished screams, Ul'dah fabricated a tale that Sil'dih had started turning their dead into zombies in order to win the war. This was used this to justify an official declaration of war, and in their triumphant crusade sealed the gates of Sil'dih, wiping them out with their own perverse plague.
Ruins of Sil'dih can be visited in Central and Western Thanalan, recently uncovered during the Calamity. Before the rediscovery of these ruins the civilization was nearly forgotten.
The grandness and elegance of the aqueducts suggested Sil'dih rivaled, or even surpassed, Ul'dah in architectural aptitude. That they were more-or-less forgotten until recently suggests Ul'dah wanted to forget them and tried to erase them from history, or that they either lacked the means or motivation to keep adequate records.
((ooc: again, if any of this is not 100% lore-accurate pretend that it is. bc Era is a smartypants and I am not. and I also don't have the Encyclopedia Eorzea yet for referencing. q_q))