Delita and the Queen
-We see Delita and Queen “Ovelia” together. (Just gonna keep calling her Ovelia. Even if she’s not the Ovelia she thought she was, she’s still Ovelia.)
-She’s depressed. Feels used, purposeless. Delita is kind of a dick here, mocking her at first before apologizing.
-Delita feels sort of similar. Like he was just playing a role, finding it hollow and ineffective.
“I am their unwitting puppet no more! I will exact from them the price of their gluttonous feast!” I’m afraid you’re someone’s unwitting puppet even now.
-He wants to build a noble, peaceful meritocracy.
-These two have a really close relationship here. They even embrace.
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Luso the Game Hunter
-As I head north, I see someone running from a behemoth pack. He’s quite acrobatic and bold.
”If it’s dinner you’re after, I’ll feed you a length of iron!”
-lol he tries slicing them with his sword and his sword breaks.
-The guy is Luso. Facing down three behemoths, two behemoth kings, and a dark behemoth. Jesus.
-Luso is a “game hunter.” Seems to be a melee-range fighter.
-Thankfully, the behemoths are regular enemies rather than the meteor-countering, endless HP death machines they usually are.
-Oh, right! I forgot that hunters were a major thing in FFXII, both the Clan Centurio version and the ones at the beach camp.
-He seems incredibly chill. Got separated from his friends, and will tag along with us for now. Yay for new party member! It smelled like that kind of encounter, but I was wrong the last 73 times I predicted Ovelia/Alma/etc would join.
-AWWW he has a journal to write about his journeys! A travelogue. I immediately love Luso.
-Luso’s job abilities are like Ramza’s souped-up squire. It’s kind of disappointing tbh, coming on the heels of Mustadio’s utility and Agrias’ raw power.
Honestly, I’m tempted to not level him up or anything. But I’ll probably need him for some story-quest, so I will. *grumble*
…Y’know what? No. Come on, Coldrun. Be more creative.
When I look again at Luso’s skill, it’s actually interesting. He’s got some healy stuff with Salve and Chant, and can buff others with Tailwind. Shout and Focus could probably turn him into a physical monster, so I want him to up in the thick of things. Knight? Monk? Maybe even ninja or samurai if the gods smile on me and I unlock it one day.
-Game Hunter also naturally can poach, which is a nice bonus.
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Around the World
-Time for some more map exploration, errands, rumors.
-lolol I got Excalipoor from an errand. XD
It’s probably just a callback, but it’d be sweet if having this in my artefact log gave me an x% chance to summon Gilgamesh. …or even, in my wildest dreams, get him as a special bonus party member?
-The Scriptures of Germonique is also in my artefact log, about the life of Saint Ajora. I can even read it!
Another artefact: a recipe for Moppet Bread. Probably based on Gnomish Bread from early games that let you see the map iirc.
-Kinda wish that rumors I already read through got a check mark next to them or something so I wouldn’t wonder whether I read through them already.
-Some new immunity items appear in the stores. They’re expensive, but I really want to farm the gil to get them.
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The Scriptures of Germonique
-The text is old with Elder Simon’s fresh notes in the margins.
-Germonique was a disciple of Saint Ajora. He betrayed the Saint, turning him over to the Holy Ydoran Empire. This tome apparently tells a different story from the traditional legend of Ajora.
Perhaps Ajora was a bit like early Augustine, more player than saint.
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The Legend of Ajora
-Moments after his birth, he walked to a well: “A calamity shall soon befall this well. Seal it up at once, that none may drink of it.”
A few days later, (presumably after the terrified populace wondered how the fuck an infant knows ANY WORDS AT ALL AND CAN WALK ON HIS FLIMSY SQUISHY BABBY LEGS), whoever drank from the well got the plague.
-He saved Ivalice at 20. Nice resume builder, that.
A catastrophe occurred that mirrored one from long before. The king of Limberry summoned a demon, so Saint Ajora collected Zodiac Stones and summoned Zodiac Braves to defeat the king’s demon.
It hits me reading this that I don’t understand the mechanics here. I just assumed the initial twelve braves found the stones, got power, and used the power to kill the demons. But this time, is the implication that the stone gave their power to twelve new braves, or that they revived the old braves somehow?
And in the modern day, why are these stones turning people (Delacroix, Wiegraf) into Lucavi instead of summoning the Zodiac Braves or transforming those people into Zodiac Braves?
-The Holy Ydoran Empire responded to Saint Ajora’s heroism by arresting him and his followers. Pharism was the dominant religion, and they feared Ajora’s influence. The Ydoran Empire is basically the Roman Empire to Ajora’s Jesus.
-“Ultimately, Germonique, the thirteenth disciple, was tempted by sordid coin, offering vital information that led to his master’s capture.” Germonique Iscariot.
-He was executed at the Golgotha – ahem, Golgollada – soon after.
-The gods didn’t like this. They blasted Mullonde, the center of Pharist teachings, into the sea.
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The Truth of Saint Ajora
-At least, this was the legend of Ajora that Ramza grew up with.
“Ajora was no child of the gods. He was a mere mortal, no more divine than you or I.”
-He was an ambitious revolutionary. He infiltrated enemy states to sow disorder , a spy dispatched by a rival state to disrupt the Holy Ydoran Empire. The Ydorans used Germonique as an informant to stop Ajora.
-Ajora did attempt to reassemble the Zodiac Braves. He even discovered some of the stones. Not much beyond that is known. I have a feeling we’ll learn more about this attempt as the game progresses.
-It’s unknown whether the king of Limberry actually summoned a demon, but Mullonde did in fact sink into the sea at the time of Ajora’s death.
-Elder Simon adds that while the tome looks set-up to discredit Saint Ajora and the Church of Glabados, “I know this tome to be authentic.”
All this explains why the High Confessor fears the tome. It craps on the mythology underlying the church. They spent a lot of effort creating that mythology after Ajora’s death to seize power.
“They needed to ensure that Saint Ajora be remembered as a child of the gods.”
-The legend of the Zodiac Braves existed long before. The Church simply coopted it.
-Elder Simon knew all this. He lost his faith, but failed to condemn the Church for its lying for fear they’d take his precious library. It would have been too painful for him to give that up.
“My curiosity eclipsed my will to do what was right.”
-Elder Simon clearly didn’t think the demon from Saint Ajora’s time existed, but what were Cuchulainn and Belias?
-Something is in play here more sinister than the High Confessor.
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Next time: continuing around the world for gil, items, and errands.
