Unsolved Mysteries Of Vana'diel

that time Altana did a carbuncle cosplay for comic-con...

Given the wings/halo it does feel like it's Altana, maybe just intentionally designed as a more ancient looking interpretation of her given the old temple - i'm definitely speculating here but maybe this is showing shes bound to all the elements, both dark and light? shes keeping things in balance? or that all sides of this Zilart struggle are her creation?

What is supposed to be the deal with Absolute Virtue, the jailers and Sea.

Sea is an area that is outside of the normal rules of Vana'diel, since it was phased into a different reality to avoid Bahamuts attacks. After the explosion it was sent to the bottom of the ocean, still phased out of our reality. The single shard of the mother crystal there is separated from the other 4, that it was initially joined to. They were originally all one great crystal with all the negative and positive traits within it.

All 5 mother crystals stored a specific part of the darkness, that was kept in them away from Promathia. To stop him taking his true form and becoming Shinryu and absorbing all life.

The Ark Angels existed long before the 5 races and each one is the mother crystal it belongs to given human form.



After the explosion around each arc/mother crystal, all the darkness leaked out of the them individually, and was absorbed into the people around them, this is why each of the different races exists today? The mithra we have now, were the Zilart around the mother crystal aligned with jealousy (and that's why they look the way they do, they took the form of the Ark Angel that represents that mother crystal - Ark Angel Mithra)

This meant that all the darkness was drained from all of the mother crystals and they were all then "pure" and free from darkness, potentially leaving only a positive opposing trait/s in them? However when any of the people from the 5 races die their souls/darkness return to their specific mother crystal, and so this darkness goes back to the mother crystal in a constant cycle. The darkness / soul is sent back to the mother crystal and reborn later in the body of another child, so that the peoples role as vessels of darkness is constant and ongoing (the mother crystals become a temp but minimal holding system, and the miasma / promies around them are the wiped memories of those peoples souls that get sent into a new body)

In Sea, the darkness was drained out and absorbed into what would become the Galka, however since that mother crystal was later put into a different dimension & at the bottom of the ocean their souls/darkness cannot return back to the mother crystal*. So the mother crystal in Sea is the only pure mother crystal now and the entire area is completely free from darkness and has been since this happened.

So sea has one mother crystal and it's pure, there is no influence of darkness there at all becuase Galka souls/darkness cannot reach it there. The Zilart that were there do not die and are not reborn as happens in Vana'diel, so they just eventually become beings of pure light (qualisilium).

So everything there is the exact opposite of the normal world, everything is "positive". In Vana'diel if all the negative traits are leaked too fast, Promathia can consume them and becomes Shinryu. So would it be that there, it's the opposite and and unseen being becomes AV when all these traits are released?

All of the jailers in Sea seem to mirror exactly the traits of the 5 races (And then some), Jailer of Love, Prudence, Temperance, Fortitude, Justice etc.

Them being called Jailer implies they exist to lock away these positive traits in the same way the Galka lock away Rage and Mithra lock away Jealousy from Promathia.

AV was obviously never supposed to be killed (even if they pretended otherwise), so there has to be some greater lore reason for that. If Promathia was called Absolute Death when he absorbed all the darkness, would that make Absolute Virtue Absolute life and that was why you could not kill him?

*Galka are reborn due to Odins magic instead of the normal way, to keep the darkness contained within them and stop it being released. So all Galka are in effect immortal and just reset over and over.

Sky gods didn't have any lore connection to the Zilart story, I don't think there has to be one for Promathia either.

Well, the Shijin in Tu'Lia do have a story, even if it's scant and very much in need of a steady diet of fatty hamburgers for awhile.

They're god beasts that the Zilart imprisoned by way of imprisoning Kirin, who is more or less their leader.

Kirin upon killing him:
"You have transcended your limitations, mortal. I must thank you...You have freed me from this loathsome prison."

By binding Kirin in the Shrine of Ru'Avitau, it bound the other Shijin to Tu'Lia as well, as Kirin is their master.

Then you can also look at the context clues. Tu'Lia's only inhabitants since its deactivation and reactivation are some pink birds, a ***ton of elementals, and a bunch of Arcana.

Arcana is notable because every Sky God pop item comes from one. Arcana are synonymous with automatons, and these are clearly Zilart servant robots that guard the seals on the gods.

Zipacna(Golem) - Gem of the North (Genbu)
Olle Grande(Magic Pot) - Winterstone (Genbu)
Steam Cleaner(Magic Pot) - Gem of the East (Seiryu)
Mother Globe(Detector) - Springstone (Seiryu)
Brigandish Blade(Animated Weapon) - Gem of the South (Suzaku)
Faust(Doll) - Summerstone (Suzaku)
Despot(Doll) - Gem of the West (Byakko)
Ullikummi(Golem) - Autumnstone (Byakko)

So we're still left to wonder why they imprisoned the Shijin, how exactly they imprisoned them, and why in Tu'Lia?

Could be that the Shijin opposed the return to paradise plan, and fought them in Tu'Lia. Could also just be a flex by the Zilart for a god animal zoo. Either way, the story we have with them is that we're seeking their treasures in Bartholomew's stead, and we defeat them to earn those treasures. But we're really just defeating prisoners who've been held captive for 10,000 years.

Will do another post for thoughts on Al'taieu.

The Jailers of Al'taieu are certainly interesting.

Chains of Promathia is ultimately a tail of faith and of the true origins of Vana'diel and its deities.

Remember though, where Al'taieu was before it was cloven from Vana'diel and moved to Lumoria.

It was the Zilart capital, and it was an island that lay in the Sea of Shu'Meyo. This is the sea that surrounds Qufim Island. Now it could have been part of Qufim Island at one time, as Qufim Island is a nearly perfect crescent, but that would be pure speculation as nothing states that directly.

Either way, when it was cloven from the land, it was cloven from the sea itself as well. Not just the Zilart were taken to Lumoria along with it. The animals surrounding the palace and surrounding its island were also taken along.

Also note that like Sky, there are invisible or what were supposed to be invisible barriers for people to walk upon. Unlike Sky, these seem to have come into play due to the land being cloven. It's a forcefield to protect the palace. It generated a field over the water flooding the island that was brought along, and it surrounds Lumoria in the sky, and that's why the entire sky of sea is lavender and grey hexagons.

Even further you will note that the forcefield you walk upon in Sea is several meters higher than the actual ground, and infrastructure that would normally lead up to the palace doors is actually damaged. Even more, there are plants that are completely submerged that show no signs of damage or being different than anything else in the area.

However, all plants and the ground have turned varying shades of blue, teal, purple, lavender, and white. Seemingly, oddly, temporally frozen and unaffected save their colors by the events around them. And the Quasilumins confirm that time doesn't seem to be or feel the same in Lumoria. There is no night or day. They know tons of time has passed because there used to be people, and the place used to be a, "beautiful garden." Many quasilumins on the outside refer to missing or serving their master, and say they are not permitted inside the palace. One also says that there are entities killing anything biological within the palace.

This reflects the true state of things. Yve'noile sealed the King of the Zilart who'd become Promathia's vessel in the throne room. She used the light of her life force to do that, and went comatose in the Chamber of Eventide, a final bulwark from its accumulated darkness/Emptiness spilling forth.

Those entities that kill biological beings are the Luminions, not quite arcana that have been made at an indeterminate time within Al'taieu's residence in Lumoria. Z'deis and Ghrahs. They don't show any hostility towards Aerns or Euvhis, however.

These are extra guards against anyone getting to the throne room, to interfere with Yve'noile's seal. Their purpose repurposed, possibly by Selhteus, but possibly by the Zilart themselves before they lost their bodies (and some of them their minds).

This brings into question what a Luminian is, the biological beings that do reside in Al'taieu, mostly outside of the palace. We have Aerns, Xzomits, Phuabos, Hpemdes, Euvhis, and Yovras. Most of these resemble transmogrified animals/plants. Xzomits are squids. Phuabos are sharks. Hpemdes are dolphins (no they're not goldfish). Aerns are humanoid. Euvhis are flowers.

Yovras are freakishly alien. They have tentacles numbering up to 12, and 4 of which are hidden in their stem. They to me, seem to be something of XI's take on biblically accurate angels.

These Luminians all seem to be possessed of immortality, shown by their organ descriptions. "Though you've cut the organ away from the body, it still functions."

We can infer that mostly these were what became of the animals that came along with Al'taieu across dimensions. We can also infer that the Aerns are the other Zilart or Kuluu who did not become Quasilumins.

In order to fight Absolute Virtue and the other sea Jailers, you have to start by getting the Deeds from the Ix'Aerns. These Deeds and the oncoming Virtues from the jailers are memories suspended in a physical bubble that coalesced after you killed them.

Lumoria is pushing in on the boundary between Vana'diel and the realm of the gods, so it would seem that certain beings that came along with Al'taieu now transcend mortality.

We're missing the 10000 year interim, and we don't actually have a precise time for when Promathia manifested in the King of the Zilart. But it stands to reason that since memories and souls are at play, and you can carry them in your inventory, that it may have been some other deities also began to manifest in the Luminians, like Promathia did in the Zilart King.

Further still, if this happened while the King was still The King, perhaps he ordered them to be sealed away as best he could. Just like in Sky with Kirin, to access the later Jailers, you ascend through a path of Luminions (the Arcana) and Aerns (loyal humanoids) in order to fight godly beasts.

AV's dialogue on claim reveals that these virtues and memories held by all of the Ix'Aerns and Jailers were his. Like with Kirin, he was sealed, and we broke the seal to kill him in the name of treasure. In this case, they are AV's memories of his sins.

They become physical, and you give them to Meret, the other researcher near Yurm the gorget/obi lady, to receive the items.

It's a mystery even for our NPCs.

Interesting take on the shijin, I always thought it was just a nod to chinese/japanese mythology.

I know it works more like souls in The Wheel of Time (previous lives very rarely bleed over a bit and memories are retained between incarnations but there's not supposed to be continuity during a given lifetime), but damn, now you got me thinking Galka are Time Lords.

The thing to look out for is which mask he's wearing. If it's a Dusk Mask (purple), then it's the real deal. If it's a Crimson Mask (red), then it's actually .

One thing I liked was the death animation of Voidwatch monsters. It's a direct copy of that animation of mobs that you defeat in Final Fantasy X.

Also something which wasn't mentioned a lot is the BST jug frog pet, BraveHeroGlenn which obviously a homage to the famous frog swordsman from Chrono Trigger.

Which female race has the biggest boobs?

Elves