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In Search of Alphinaud
-Now that I’ve recruited Alisaie back to the party, it’s time for Alphinaud.
-He’s in Kholusia, that island to the west with the rich miqo’te.
-I like these amaro, four-winged mounts used in the First.
-Sin eaters aren’t as much of a problem here. The people in Eulmore (the island’s main settlement), on the other hand…
Looking at Eulmore from afar.
-They have major elitist tendencies. Nearly hostile relations with the Crystarium too.
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A Still Tide
-I first meet Eybor, a local friendly to the Crystarium.
-He tells me of the sharp class divide. The wealthy inside the city, and those just barely scraping by outside the city. Good Guy Alphinaud has been working on behalf of the latter.
-HI ALPHINAUD! Long time, no see. Longer for you than for more.
-From what Urianger told Alphinaud, the catalyst for the next Calamity he saw was a “formless and deadly weapon employed by the Garlean Empire.” That must be Black Rose, their biological weapon.
So both the Source AND the First are facing an existential threat.
-We’ll head to the pretentious but key city of Eulmore to start seeking solutions.
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Open Arms, Closed Gate
ALPHINAUD: “<sigh> To think that whenever a calamity struck the Source, a reflection such as this one – with all its culture and history – was being erased from existence…”
I must’ve forgotten that. So when Bahamut hit the Source, that destroyed one of the shards?
-On the road, we rescue a random woman from a sin eater. I guess they’re here too.
-The gate to Eulmore is known as the poorly named “Open Arms.” Just outside Open Arms is Gatetown, a settlement of desperate people hoping to be chosen to live in Eulmore.
-A rando approaches me, asking if I want to compete until Alphinaud steps in. Compete in what? Some sort of death match where the winner gets access?
-OMG TWO JESTERS, ARE THEY ZORN AND THORN FROM FFIX? They have the same red and blue look.
-For now, they’re unnamed “jongleurs.” They’re recruiting gourmet chefs here to serve in Eulmore.
-Eulmore is the “city of final pleasures.” The wealthy gathered here to live out the rest of their decadent days.
-God this is hard to watch, different from the sin eater attack. The jesters treat this like a game show. They select one person to get into Eulmore, and give a piece of “meol” (a staple food) to the rest of Gatetown as they cheer.
ALPHINAUD: “Let us just say it leaves a bad taste in my mouth.”
The ramshackle Gatetown.
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A Fickle Existence
-The more I think about this, the more skeptical I get of the “wonderful life” for those picked from Gatetown. I’ll bet they’re enslaved or something.
-Alphinaud knows of a beast tribe nearby called the Ondo (the First’s Sahagin.) He’s been trading produce with them for pearls. Perhaps that will get him into Eulmore.
-A miqo’te stole his produce, Kai-Shirr. The thief is in… in rough shape. [Later edit: he’s actually a Mystel, the First’s version of miqo’te.]
”I’m so tired. I’m so bloody hungry…”
-Why doesn’t Kai-Shirr just go to the Crystarium? No handouts, but he’d be fairly paid.
All Kai-Shirr’s friends were chosen for Eulmore. “We made a promise that we’d live together in paradise.” The very promise is holding him back.
-I’m now 85% sure that the people chosen for Eulmore are not living in a paradise. Or worse… what if they are, and just forget their old friends after being chosen?
-Good Guy Alphinaud gives in. He lets Kai-Shirr take his “trade with the Ondo” plan, produce and all, to try for a shot at Eulmore. I feel like this will turn out badly for Kai-Shirr.
-Then, Alphinaud spots yet another person in need of his help. Someone washed up on the beach. What is this, the third this session?
-Tristol is his name. He was chosen as an artist for Eulmore, taken by a wealthy couple. It went fine at first. Then they grew to dislike his style and fired.
But being poor and without patronage is a sin in the city. They soon tossed him out.
LITERALLY TOSSED HIM. INTO THE OCEAN. WT ACTUAL F, EULMORE.
-A Lord Vauthry rules over the city with an iron grip. Five bucks says he’s a boss.
-Tristol is so thankful for us saving him that he gives us his used paintbrush. We can show it and pretend we’re great painters. That’s our ticket in.
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City of Final Pleasures
-The red and blue jongleurs take the bait. They’ll bring Alphinaud into Eulmore as a painter and me as his assistant.
-I stopped for a minute to listen to the background music, with the hypothesis that if the jongleurs’ theme was “Jesters of the Moon,” it’d reveal them as XIV’s version of Zorn and Thorn.
Nothing so specific, but still some musical clues. Their theme is a variant of the FFIV Calcabrina theme, also used in the Dr. Lugae fight. This signals that the jongleurs are the harbingers of zero good things.
-They accept us, tossing out more meol to Gatetown’s unselected before we go inside.
-Eulmore has two classes: the free, blessed with the favor of Lord Vauthry, and “the bonded,” who work in their employ.
-Alphinaud and I have been assigned as painters bonded to Chai-Nuzz and Dulia-Chai, a Mystel couple (that must be their term for miqo’te) known as the Chais.
-I head up to a café to meet Dulia-Chai… and I’m immediately skeptical.
One of XIV’s first fat characters and I’m just hoping against hope she’s not an embodiment of crappy fat tropes.
Total aside, but I rewatched the Danganronpa anime of late, and the hygvzngr vzcbfgre is one of the best examples of fat rep I remember seeing. In the show more than the Danganronpa 2 game (which uses relentless fat jokes alongside showing the character’s awesomeness).
He was kind, selfless, a strong leader, respected, loved, and unapologetically fat.
-oh my god Dulia-Chai’s voice actress is INCREDIBLE! Sweet and condescending.
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Free to Sightsee
-I get to wander the city a bit. The bonded here surprise me by seeming happy with the free folk they’re bonded too.
Apparently, the free surrender their identification and papers to the city upon registering as such. They live a life of luxury and don’t have to worry about making money – everything is provided for them.
I wonder why the city needs that. This Lord Vauthry is surely behind some evil.
-My favorite place in this city is the Beehive, a dance club.
-The club’s manager, Tista-Bie, tells me that the city is so happy because it’s free from sin eaters. “They say Lord Vauthry was born with the power to command them.” OK THAT’S SUS AF
-This changed about twenty years ago. Until then, the Eulmorean military fought constantly with the sin eaters, taking the heavy casualties you’d expect. Then Vauthry, son of the old leader, came to power.
“He’s got this way with the eaters, you see – turns them docile as house cats. I wouldn’t be exaggerating to say they’ve become something of an ally to Eulmore. No longer an enemy to be feared.”
-They’re so happy with not having to fight that they don’t question how strange and ominous this is. I’m not surprised – they’d see it as looking a gift horse in the mouth.
-Some bonded are not so happy. One singer has been terrified because she lost her voice and she doesn’t know what’ll happen to her.
Few bonded ever leave here. The painter we met was fortunate to be tossed away. Most just disappear.
(Personal theory: they’re somehow turned into obedient sin eaters.)
-The singer’s patron offers to advocate for her “ascension,” which will put her into a state where all ills are cured.
FREE CITIZEN: “As all know, the sin eaters exist to devour the sinful. But also do they serve to gather the souls of the innocent, and shepherd them unto celestial paradise.”
OK THAT SOUNDS LIKE YOU’RE JUST GONNA KILL HER AND HOPE SHE GOES TO HEAVEN. But this is what Lord Vauthry tells them and I guess they believe.
Even the bonded singer is excited for the ascension.
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Random Stuff Around Eorzea
The First’s hobgoblin enemies look like classic FF goblins/imps:
-Some great player names:
Yay Pants
Epic Nachos
Eileen Virtuafighter
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Next time: checking back in with Alphinaud. After what we saw with the sin eater transformation, I’m legit nervous about what the ascension will look like, if we see it.
