#ffxiv speculation

I think, just via watching the new trailer and the keynote on how this new saga is about "Uniting the stars," AND how the trailer specifically calls out 'The Traveler' aka Azem, so we're gonna be seeing what Azem was doing during the Sundering.

I think, since the Winterer's seem to be preparing for a 'great freeze' as in due to Zodiark dying, the Source and Shards aren't bathed in massive amounts of ambient aether imbalance everywhere, thus they start to 'wither' and 'nature's proclamation' is that the lives of the Source and Shards can't be currently sustained by the amount of aether now in the system of life. It's an unnatural way of living, not due to souls, but the fact that the environment itself suffers. Even though we can survive in harsh conditions, other life and the world can't always after all.

I.e we killed the biggest aether battery in the star, and now we're in a aether deficit.

Zodiark was born of the star being sundered into 14 Shards, the current arrangement of the stars is unnatural. It's not how 'nature' is supposed to be. By bringing it together it stands to reason it would be fix the 'withering' like if you cut off enough tree branches the original dies.

Now, 'that's what the Ascians wanted to do,' well yes but the way they wanted to was the equivalent of smashing a meteor into Earth and hoping it reforms slightly bigger while also killing off everyone they considered inferior.

With Azem the Traveler's key, someone whose entire job was to unite people, I think their magic is the key to bringing the stars together safety without mass death. It would make sense their magic works like that and why so many people are coveting the Key. It would also give chance to show how Venat did the Sundering in the first place, as she being the former Azem, would have access to the same type of magic. So it makes sense we'd be able to 'learn' and end it properly.

At one point I speculated that Fandaniel's throwaway comment about Zenos being a case where Emet-Selch "finally succeeded" was about Zenos' corporeal aether being as dense as an Ancients'. Not his soul, but his body at least being 2x as dense as the average Source inhabitant (and 14x as anyone from a Shard).

One of the big reasons for the Sundering was that extremely aether-dense people can't interact directly with Dynamis. You can hear Meteion bc your aether is so thin. People turn into monsters bc Dynamis overwhelms and consumes their Aether.

What if Zenos cannot directly interact with Dynamis. At all.

What if THAT'S why everything seems dull and boring to him? There's a whole spectrum of emotion & feeling that he straight up can't feel because his booty too fat his corporeal aether is too thick. But he's still a sundered soul, so part of him still needs Dynamis to feel connected to other people (unlike the Ancients who seem fine?). But his corporeal aether blocks it. The same way that Zodiark's shield kept us from hearing the Endsinger for all those centuries (& by extension the whole universe really), Zenos' thicc aether literally prevents him from feeling connection to others.

This explains why he so easily no-sold the WoL. In addition to supernaturally thick aether, he's also mostly immune to our Power of Friendship crap.

... Mostly.

Is there anyone out there who has an OC from Meracydia? How do you accomplish this without having hardly any lore out there to help develop the character besides the tiny bits in the MSQ and the Warring Triad? Is this just too difficult to accomplish?

I am unwell!

This is 100% Ysayle's shard from this reflection yes????

part of my problem is that i keep coming up with scenarios that the msq will never do no matter how much i want them to. sure, we have a key to interdimensional travel in our pocket and at least 3 gateways to get to various reflections, but I want meracydia stuff so badly. it’s been in the back pocket for the entirety of this game’s lifespan and we’ve never seen the place. and if we’re gonna keep going with shard stuff, i could see meracydia being huge for interdimensional stuff. the dragons fought for meracydia to the point where bahamut fought off the allagans as himself and as a primal and azdaja followed the cloud of darkness. i can’t imagine the meracydians didn’t have something worth the dragon’s protection aside from a possibly really good relationship with the other meracydian people. what if meracydia holds the final piece of the puzzle needed for us to connect all the reflections together?

Let's talk game design!

Mild spoilers after the cut!