Zilart or no?

[Malacite]

This is just a fun little speculation thread. Please no flame wars or spoilers if at all possible @ .@;




That being said, it's starting to look like ToAU will be the very first FF Story Arc that doesn't involve the Zilart. No crags, no creepy hidden secrets, heck there isn't even a Zilart Made/previously inhabited zone! o. O


Personally I'm hoping SE is just keeping it under wraps. Maybe they're somehow tied to the Astral Candy? >.>b

[Jei]

Re: Zilart or no?

? Are you asking if you have to install Zilart?

[DrivenTooFar]

Re: Zilart or no?

I think he's talking about the race and that it seems that there is no involvement of them in TOAU.

[Omgwtfbbqkitten]

Re: Zilart or no?

I don't think there is a connection to the Zilart in this one, though there is a track listing on the OST referring to the gods, so its not impossible, either.

I honestly think this is the start of a storyarch that will eventually pull us into the Far East and possibly Far South as well. East Aht'Urghan is at war with the Far West and we're really not any closer to seeing what's behind that conflict, all we do know is the other things that are plaging Aht'Urghan itself in regards to the Astral Candesence(s).

Interesting that there are five Mothercrystals and five Astral Candesences, that could mean new avatars as well. Just kinda hard to overlook the word "Astral" without thinking about Avatars. Plus there's all the allusions to Odin and Alexander. These were summons in prior games, though I don't believe adding these would be all that balanced.

[Vyuru]

Re: Zilart or no?

Interesting that there are five Mothercrystals and five Astral Candesences

Are there five Astral Candies? I know of the one in Al Zhabi, where are the other 4?

Personally, I think that they will expand into the Far East, then jog on south to the mithra homeland. I also wouldn't be surprised if SE made some expansions to include the Antica homeland (they had to tunnel over to Altepa in the first place) and the Gigas/Orc/Yagudo homelands as well.

Although, it's been awhile since I last saw it, but where did the Yagudo come from? Castle Oztroja was built during the Crystal War if I remember correctly, but I don't remember if they ever said where the yags come from. Orcs sailed to get to the continent, Gigas came from the far north, antican tunneled into Altepa, hmmm, sorry just speculating here.

[Mhurron]

Re: Zilart or no?

I don't think there is a connection to the Zilart in this one, though there is a track listing on the OST referring to the gods, so its not impossible, either.

Weren't the Zilart all over the world though? While it's possible, and understandable, that the specific events covered in the ToAU missions can have nothing to do with the Zilart, it is still strange (at least to me it is) that there isn't even a passing reference or some little hint that they were there.

[Illuen]

Re: Zilart or no?

In advance, please correct and forgive me if any of my questions are answered farther in the AU missions than I am

Although we absolutely no proof of this as of yet, up to this point, I'd assumed that it was the Zilart who had constructed Alexander. Also, do we know yet how the Runic Portals work, exactly? They remind me of the Zilart for some reason.

We do have hints that the Zilart are over in Aht Urghan, though. Main thing that pops into my head is the Olduum civilization, and it's connections to Ramuh. We also have the Leyway connected to that, which we've not, to the best of my knowledge, had explained. The Olduum ring is, presumably made out the same material as Ramuh's Olduum Staff.

So I'd say although they may not play a important part in ToAU so far, I daresay we'll see their influences in one way or another.

[BurningPanther]

Re: Zilart or no?

I see the Zilart having a hand in the endgame of every expansion. They ruled the world at some point, before retreating to live under the sea in Al'Taieu. From what I've seen of CoP(I'm hardly finished with it yet), the story seems to end with a "changing or the guard," the gods finally leaving fate in the hands of the mortals who reside on Vana'diel. It's possible that the Zilart won't be around physically to upstage the remaining five races.

Even if they are not directly involved, I highly doubt that remnants of their civilization lie only in the west, there have to be relics of their technology in the east as well. However, there also seems to be evidence of the Olduum civilization, who existed during(if not before) the Zilart's prominence. The eastern hemisphere may be their territory...

[Raydeus]

Re: Zilart or no?

? Are you asking if you have to install Zilart?

Jei's Sarcasm skill raises .5 points.

[Gobo]

Re: Zilart or no?

Are there five Astral Candies? I know of the one in Al Zhabi, where are the other 4?

Someone hacked into Nyzul Isle a while ago and found an intact Astral Plinith with an Astral Candy in it. Also the Astral Pliniths that Al'Zhabi and the Beastmen have come from Alzadaal Undersea Ruins. Lamia->Arrapago Rem., Trolls->Bhaflaum Rem., Mammol Ja->Zhayolm Rem., Al'Zhabi->Silver Sea Rem. If you make it to the top floor the remnants, you will see a place for a Astral Plinith, but its been forcibly ripped out.

The light that shines in the bottom arrangement of 5 dots when a Candy is in the plinith, corresponds to the area where the plinith came from (a similar arrangement is above each of the Salvage zones.) The empire believes the remaining Astral Candies hidden in Alzadaal, but won't say more than that (or how they acquired their Astral Plinith).

EDIT: Paragraphs are a good thing.

[Malacite]

Re: Zilart or no?

o. O that's neat.

Hey, maybe the 5 astrals are Alexander's power source?!


Also, 5 seems to be the magic number in Vana'diel, as we have;

- 5 Crystal Fragments (The mother crystals)

- 5 Verses of the Memora de la S'tona (spelling?)

- 5 Enlightened Races

- 5 Astral Candesences

- 5 Terrestrial Avatars


~ and I'm sure the list goes on.


It looks like this topic is going to have to get into some major spoilers if we're gonna really discuss this, so anyone not very far into COP or Zilart should probably look away.

Spoilers


The Zilart apparently caused emptiness to flow forth from the Gates of Paradise when they attempted to open it. Tenzen's homeland was engulfed in it, and it also spills forth from the Crags. So right there, there's a small chance of Zilartian influence on the Aradjiah Continent. However, the gates of Paradise also open once every 100 years... so who knows.

[TenchiHawkwing]

Re: Zilart or no?

Well, I remember seeing some screenshots from when you turn in pieces from Proto-Omega... a BLU from Aht Urghan said something along about trying to rebuild the 'light divinity' or something.

Now I don't know anything at all about who or what built Omega and Ultima, but I'd assume it was Zilart... and the conversation in the screenshots made it sound like Alexander was built with similar technology.

And while it doesn't have much to do with anything at all, in the ToAU trailer didn't it show the three new jobs standing in front of the gate to the Grand Palace of Hu'Xzoi right before the COR shoots the screen? I wonder why they chose there of all places for that part of the trailer.

[Legal Fish]

Re: Zilart or no?

There is a good chance that civilizations existed between the fall of Zilart and rise of the races, then again the timeline for Vana'diel is utterly unrealistic. Anyway, probably no Zilart, but a sect of Kuluu is quite likely, the Olduum people.

[Feenicks]

Re: Zilart or no?

It's highly possible that there will be references to Kuluu and Zilart in Aht Urghan, but I get the feeling that it will be a passing reference only. There's an NPC in Whitegate who mentions something about a floating city, but there are no obvious Zilart relics/remnants anywhere in Aht Urhgan or the surrounding areas, that is, there's no cermet, no conduits/crystal lines, and no bizz'are plac'es w'ith ap'ostr'o'phes in the'ir na'mes.

On top of that, those of you who have finished CoP, RoZ and Apocalypse Nigh should know that the story pretty much ends there. Anything else to do with Zilart/Kuluu will be digging up bit of the past which were completely ignored/irrelevant to RoZ and CoP because the story ended so tightly with those two expansions.

[Toksyuryel]

Re: Zilart or no?

I agree that the whole zilart/kuluu storyline is pretty much wrapped up. With the introduction of the Waking the Beast question prior to ToAU and the prevelance of avatar-related mischief in Aht Urhgan, it's possible that the storyline is now making a segway into explaining the truth about the avatars and their own history.

Also, something I've been thinking about... all five shards are in the Middle Lands... as are all five crystal lines. When the Meltdown happened, is it possible that it ONLY affected the Middle Lands? The fact that all five races seem to be represented in Aht Urhgan casts doubt on this particular theory but it's still intreguing to ponder. Just some more food for thought^^