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The Call
-Y’shtola magically unleashes the aether from Nhaama’s power.
-Success! Aether will flow back to the Burn. Back to Doma HQ to regroup.
-Alisaie and Tataru have set up engineers in the Burn. The protective field is ready to go.
-Yugiri’s team has been reaching out to form alliances. Most are open to it, but Hingashi and Sui-no-Sato said no. They already have pacts with the Empire that they don’t want to tear up.
-With Doma’s defenses set, Hien will join us for a full-Alliance meeting. Everything’s coming together! Off to Ala Mhigo.
-It’s so weird to see Raubahn here, not in service to the Sultana. He’s repping Ala Mhigo now.
-So. How do we deal with the Empire? Aymeric want to go after the Ascians directly. They’re the source of so much pain and chaos.
-Brute force won’t work against the Ascians. Thancred suggests a subtler approach.
THANCRED: “We dispatch the shinobi to imperial territory. There, they sow the rumor that the crown prince perished in the battle for Ala Mhigo, and that the man parading around is in fact a corpse inhabited by a servant of darkness.”
-SNEAKY! And with the benefit of truth. He wants to create an opening for a Garlean opposition faction.
-Suddenly, I’m hit by an echo flashback. Or… wait, it’s not a flashback. Those are usually tan/sepia. Deep blue suffuses this imagery. And a voice.
“That way… sorrow…”
I’m in a dark void suddenly.
“History must be changed.” Who’s talking?’
“Ahead looms a calamity. Ahead looms Light, expunging all form and life. Twin dooms only you can forestall. Only you.” Now this definitely feels Ascian. Or perhaps related to the Warriors of Darkness. Both feared obliteration by overwhelming Light.
[Later edit: I keep thinking about this “twin dooms” thing. I see this as a threat of overwhelming light and dark. The dark is likely the Ascians, but what’s the other doom?]
All the Scions are getting hit by this voice.
“Let expanse contract, eon become instant. Throw wide the gates that we may pass.” I really don’t think these are Ascians. If they heard our plans, they’d quietly counter them. They wouldn’t announce themselves like this.
-The visions end. Thancred collapses into a coma.
-Kan-E-Senna, the Gridanian leader, says we’re being “called,” our soul being plucked from our flesh.
-It hit Thancred harder than us because he’s been “called” before, when the Ascian Lahabrea possessed him. This being calling us has a similar power.
-Urianger calls Y’shtola via linkpearl. He was hit by the same voice and wants to meet.
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Prelude in Violet
[Non-rhetorical question: Does Urianger have a different voice actor than he originally had?]
-Y’shtola brings up that reduced aether in Doma again. It’s apparently a worldwide phenomenon.
-Ruh-oh… the voice is calling to Urianger again. To us all.
“Only you… only you… Throw wide the gates…”
-Urianger and Y’shtola are both unconscious. Scions are dropping like flies, and Alisaie’s panicking.
-The quest takes a bit of an odd side turn, as Alisaie is called away to Limsa Lominsa take care of some personal business before we progress.
-It’s Ga Bu! That’s a blast form the past. Ga Bu is the kobold kid who accidentally summoned Titan when he saw his parents dead before him.
http://coldrungaming.blogspot.com/2018/06/ffxiv-p...
-She’s kept checking on Ga Bu with her sister. Now she’s alone.
ALISAIE: “I’ve been reminded again and again of my limitations – of how little I can change about this world. And I’ve come to know the sorrow of parting all too well. But to have the people I hold dear struck own before my eyes, and be powerless to help them…? That I cannot bear.”
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Prelude in Violet – Imperial Palace
-Scene change to the imperial palace. “Zenos” and Emperor Varis.
-The Populares have been effectively silenced. “Zenos” wants to take the next step, urges the Emperor to set his armies on Ala Mhigo to tear it apart.
-The Emperor… hesitates. This is interesting.
-The camera positions “Zenos” as a devil on the emperor’s shoulder.
-We finally see for sure that “Zenos” is the white-robed Ascian, Elidibus. The frustrated Elidibus leaves.
-A mystery person emerges from the throne. This must be the dude who stole the copter.
???: “I played my part to perfection. I had earned my rest. And then, thanks to Lahabrea’s crowning act of [foolishness], our favorite emissary sees fit to summon me back.”
-The camera pans around and shows this person’ face. I don’t know who they are.
???: “Now, my dearest grandson. Let me remind you of your place, in the simplest of terms.” HOOOOLY SHIT IS THIS THE ORIGINAL EMPEROR SOLUS??
???: “You do not make judgments – you administer them. Swiftly and to the letter. Naught else is your concern… if aught threatens the balance ‘twixt Light and Dark, it falls to you to remove it.”
This guy has a very casual, almost joking way about him. Even his music is oddly playful.
-And there’s the name reveal. Solus zos Galvus.
“That is why this empire exists! Why I built it!”
SOLUS: “The founding father was an Ascian! And he created the Empire solely for the purpose of sowing the seeds of chaos.” THIS REVEAL THOUGH FHDSJKLFHDSDS
-He probably didn’t learn that the Empire was Ascian-founded until Varis became emperor himself. This has gotta be a real mindfuck. I predict he’ll be our ally soon.
[Later edit: I no longer think Solus is the mystery person who stole the mek-copter. An Ascian wouldn’t need to steal a copter, and it seems like Solus has been in the imperial capital for a while.]
[Non-rhetorical question: Something I’m still confused about. First he said, “If aught threatens the balance ‘twixt Light and Dark, it falls to you to remove it.” But then a few seconds later, he says the Empire is about “sowing the seeds of chaos.” What am I missing?
I guess this is a more fundamental misunderstanding I have with the Ascians. I know they think they’re about balance, but they’re also about waking up the ancient dark god Zodiark. Idk.]
-Solus wishes to bring about a Calamity. He’s worked hard to bring this about.
JFC I WAS RIGHT, VARIS SHOOTS SOLUS!
VARIS: “You fiends are overfond of your own voices. Mark me, Ascian. Man is the master of his own destiny.”
-Solus reappears nearby. Of course that doesn’t kill Solus, and of course Varis knew that, but still good to know where Varis stands. He’s a true believer in the Empire’s philosophy. (Unlike the Empire’s founder.)
-This whole twist has a very Fullmetal Alchemist: Brotherhood vibe. Sbyxf jub evfr va gur zvyvgnel yrneavat bayl ng gur uvturfg rfpurybaf gung gur Shuere vf n ubzhaphyhf, naq gur jubyr pbhagel vf qrfvtarq nf n zrnaf bs fnpevsvpr.
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Prelude in Violet – Camp Shadowhunter
-Meanwhile, at a resistance camp somewhere in the Empire…
-Alphinaud and Team Shadowhunter arrive back at their camp. And everyone is dead.
SHADOWHUNTER: “Damn them. They finally used it.”
The Empire developed a poison gas called “Black Rose.” Shadowhunter’s confused – this sort of brutality will likely just rile up more provinces against them.
Then he remembers. “This is not the work of men, but monsters. The Ascians… Their objective was never to rule, but to sow strife and discord.”
We’re pretty late in “Stormblood’s” expansion cycle, but it sure as hell is looking like these patches are a prelude to an Ascian expansion.
-I’m also not sure what the “Violet” referred to by “Prelude in Violet” (the name of patch 4.4) means. Is that some defining imperial color? I thought they were more about black, white, and red, judging by their flag. Or is it an Ascian reference?
-And that’s it for the main story! I’ve completed everything out there. I’ll learn what’s next whenever patch 4.5 comes out.
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Next time: the Warring Triad trials.
