The Missing Story within Final Fantasy 14 

The only bit of Gridanian lore that stuck with me all these years is in quarrymill when meffrid couldn't get a single vial of antibiotics for his friend because the elementals said no and everyone was just gonna watch that guy slowly die of a festering wound

you know what else is an ongoing joke? gridania starters being thrown under the bus. we lost papalymo, we never even ever had yda, and everything about the rich history of gridania is left unexplored. the mun-tuy cellars are abandoned...

The lack of Gridanian attention is probably why the lore of Moon'qote and duskwight is so thin compared to every other race/subrace

A friend pointed out to us ""Even of your little Eorzea you know precious little...." He went on to drop the hint for the 24-man raid in Endwalker, but I hope there was more to it than that. I would love to see an entire future expansion begin in Gridania or the Shroud and take us into Gelmorra, only to discover that we have an entire Underdark's worth full of subterranean cities, caves, and chambers to explore beneath the continent we thought we knew so well. Wouldn't that also be an outstanding opportunity to finally have a healer (in this case White Mage) as the WoL job for an expansion?

When you start in Limsa, you get accused of aiding pirates. When you Start in Ul'dah, you get shaken down by the Brass Blades. When you start in Gridania, the Wood Wailers defend your cart from Ixhal raiders and urge you on your way. And then the first person you can talk to says adventurers are a menace and you should leave.

What I really want them to explore, in MSQ or otherwise is... UNCLOUDING ILSABARD!

I play as a Keeper of the Moon and the few references to the Keepers, before Menphina's song, were Gridanians bashing them. The number of times a Grifanian NPC says "have you heard of the Keepers of the Moon?" and I just had to stand there like "well, time to once again hear how vile my kind is." I love Gridanian for the aesthetic and Kan E Senna is great and I am still happy to say I am a Twin Adder but GOSH I want some Keeper lore that isn't "vile poachers who upset the elementals". Duskwights and Moon cats have just spent over a decade being the boogeyman while every other sub race have gotten their turn in the spotlight and their virtues put on display. It's not just Gridania as a whole that has been unexplored, but as a result, two sub races have the thinnest of lore. And that lore is almost entirely "that sub race is bad." I just am tired of rotten scraps.

If anyone asks “what has the Elementals done for us” They brought back Y’shtola from the Lifestream.

Things left unsaid. What happened to the Garleans in Azys Lla? What happened to Dun Scaith? What are people DOING about Azys Lla? What is happening with Mach? What are the Tonberrys doing? Are the elementals still keeping people out of Amdapor? When will Gigi recharge? Will Greg return? Where did Tiamat go? What is going to happen to the castrums in Eorzea? Will we ever get to really explore the liberated Imperial provinces?

It's possible they just got fed up with Gridania in 1.0 where seemingly every quest within the black shroud came down to elemental fuckery at some point.

The Black Shroud really got the short end of the stick in the MSQ, even though there are bunch of really interesting things about it, like the Elementals, Gelmorra, the homes of the Duskwight Elezen or the Moonkeeper Miqote. We only get glimpses, and it's pretty unfortunate.

One of the most interesting and scary parts of Gridania is the Conjurer npc in front of his guild, refusing to heal a little child while their parents beg him. They're more similar to the standard D&D Druids than Clerics I think, they'll refuse to help someone if it goes against nature's laws. Oh and don't get me started with the guard npc saying that the only good Keeper of the Moon is a dead one, or the Postmoogle quest "The past is a story we never tell".

Gridania: ecofascist ethnostate vibes sometimes. Limsa Lominsa: groups of scallywags ran aground and built a port city out of their junked ships, then somehow became a legitimate admiralty. Ul'dah: if prohibition-era Chicago was operated by Ferengi. I love this game, and more city-state lore/interactions would be great!

We've seen very little of U'Ghamaro. The mines only go so far into the front side of the mountain, while the U'Ghamaro territory takes up HALF of Vylbrand.

That's why I like the conjurer/white mage quest line. You delve the most into Gridania's society in there (at least that I have seen): the relationship between the city-state and the elementals (in ARR), the padjals (in SB)... In HW when you rescue Y'Shtola from the aether sea with Kan-e Sena's help you don't know why you go to that specific tree unless you have done ARR WHM questline where they tell you there resides the eldest and most powerful elemental. From there you can also guess that the reason Gridania is a pacifist nation is because Amdapor citizens' scars from the war of the magi (similar to Sharlean's foundation). With the lancer questline you can see a glimpse to the dusk elezen prejudice in the end (thou it's not explained why there's prejudice in there). And I haven't done much from the archer/bard questline to know how much is seen there.

They can add more lore/story to gridania by updating the grand companies to have levels above 60 and higher ranks. the three main cities have their own grand company which acts akin to a police force of some description, or acts like an army. we need more grand company stuff.

Nothing triggered me about Gridania as much as the EW role quest Civilians: Elder seed seer are you here to help us with our blight fighting the monster claiming our lives? Kann-E-Senna: no we are here to tend to the trees to appease the elementals "basically told them fluff off peasants" And its so sad that the encounter with Nophica didnt help to ease the issue

I fully agree that the Keepers and Duskwight should get msq focus, or at least Some sort of focus and fleshing out at some point. A new zone, deeper into the shroud, showing how the Duskwight and the Keeper Miqo'te live outside of Gridania's jurisdiction would be Amazing HOWEVER, personally, I would love to see more of Meracydia. I think it's honestly insane we never saw Tiamat again after the shadowbringers patch quests-- It was, of course, to make room for Vrtra in the msq for endwalker, but there's so much about Meracydia we don't know. The dragons have returned, Tiamat herself has returned-- who lives there now, how will they take this return of the dragons?

Pipe dream here, but if they ever let us go to the Duskwight city I want Folques (bullied Duskwight kid from the lancer questline) to have survived his nervous breakdown bungee jump into the abyss and be one of our eventual contacts down there, because that's a chip on my shoulder I've carried since I started playing this game in the first place. If someone as far gone as Fordola can get a redemption arc then let me friendship power that little edgelord dweeb too. In general I've always been a proponent of bringing the cast of the job quests more into the main story somehow, there are so many standouts like Sidurgu or the gang from the First that feel completely wasted as optional background characters.

im uldahn myself, so my gridania experience is a bit biased. the one that stood out the most is how they deny even the thought of *helping* dying ala mhigan (MSQ), how folques got thrown under the bus because hes duskwright (LNC), that one padjal candidate who got punished severely for not knowing better (endwalker tank role quest), and casual racism toward duskwright and moon cat strewn here and there in minor side quest. so.. yeah.... uldah is bad, but its the kind of bad that is public knowledge and expected. in gridania seems to have 'theres no war in ba sing se' vibe. i'd love for them to explore more about this city state. so many myths worth exploring. also please please please give duskwrights some highlight because i need them to shine more than being antagonists.

I remember when they released the Variant Dungeon for Uldah and they mentioned that there would be 2 more Variant Dungeons to come out during Endwalker, many people theorized each city state getting their own Variant Dungeon. That would've been a perfect time to expand on the lore of Gridania or Gelmorra, it still could happen in Dawntrail/8.0 but it really could've been interesting to get the city-states all getting expanded on at the end of this story arc.

Around 6:15 I was nodding and saying "yuuuuup." Call it recency bias, but the Endwalker tank job quests left a nasty aftertaste in my mouth. We get so little story in Gridania as you said, and the story we do get is of the elementals demanding and taking and punishing and selfish and reluctant to fix their own mistakes. "But they don't think like humans do" is cold comfort when quests like these make them easy to despise.

I wanna go into that snooty wealthy are of Gridania that we are never allowed in. The Haukke Manor quest giver sits outside it.

My first character began in Gridania and I would LOVE to know the deeper history of the Druid Grove turned town.

Man, as much as I know people love fantasy magical forest (and I admit it is a cool aesthetic) - It would be so cool to have an underground city of Galmora!

The "problem" with Gridania's story is that it's mostly contained in Version 1.0, and what remains in ARR are merely fragments. Tam-Tara Deepcroft (this dungeon is like 75% smaller than version 1.0, which had TWO floors), and The Thousand Maws of Toto-Rak, were dungeons involved in Gridania's lore and the elementals IIRC. Heck the entire Shroud was different, but also largely reduced in size for ARR, which just like every other place in ARR, entire chunks are missing. The "Gelmorra Ruins" was a "above ground" dungeon in 1.0, more or less in the place it presently is in 2.0, just now the entrance is "collapsed." If Yoshi-P ever wants to have Gridania's history explored, it would likely involve a "Tam-Tara Deepcroft (Hard)" and "The Thousand Maws of Toto-Rak (Hard)" that reflect the original designs, along with a "Gelmorra Ruins" . Ul'dah's story is intertwined with the MSQ and Thancred, hence all the development around it. Everyone else pretty much has no significant connection to their starting city anyway, and since Yda and Papalymo are written out, we likely won't see any Gridania development unless there is some Padjal-related MSQ story that brings the players back to explore. We've seen the Padjals almost entirely within the White Mage storyline. Perhaps we will see an investigation into the events of the sixth Umral calamity in more than just a book in Sharlayan.

You know what? I’d kinda like to know more about the Moogles in the Twelveswood. Much as I can’t decide if I dislike the fact that the Moogles are a bunch of layabout that like to push work onto others, or that they are actually capable of getting stuff done when push-comes-to-shove, we’ve only ever been to Moghome in Dravania. We’ve never had to deal with the Twelveswood Moogles aside from a brief moment in the Bard quests, and the summoning of Good King Mogglemog XII (may he ever remain fluffy).

THIS. ALL OF THIS, SCRIBE. I started in Gridania and I wish so much more for my little forest home city-state. I imagine my character started in the outskirts of Central Shroud, and grew up there. There's so much lore and stories and such that haven't been covered yet. I really do want to see more about the Gelmorrans.

Don’t even get me started with the unresolved story involving amberscale rock in central shroud from 1.0. It is even still there as a pin point on the map.

Side quests, job quests, and even role quest had us dealing with elemental that really depicted them to quick of temper (whm) or needing to clean after their quick temper(EW ROLE QUEST) Also(and i don't remember, well, that part of msq), back in ARR, could've been the best opportunity to explain the Autumn War when gridanians refused the Ala Mhigans plea for help but I only remember elementals not allowing it's people to help them but not why the reason for not helping them

What would be nuts is if the Gelmorrans were fighting a war underground for centuries, but a sudden surge in their enemies' strength causes them to surface and ask for help, prompting a reconciliation between them and Gridania. Imagine if said enemies were void powered remnants of the a Mhachi invasion from the War of the Magi and them getting stronger was a result of the Thirteenth 'collapsing' into the Source like Y'Sthola theorized at the end of Endwalker. That could easily be a X.4/X.5 patch setup into a void based expansion.

Literally all my respect and interest in Nophica leaving my body when she vouches for the elementals was on par with the immense eye rolling and groaning when the EW tank quest was more elemental shit.

There are a few things about Gridania that are quite important. The reality is that most of the problems the elementals deal with are caused by outsiders, and so they are xenophobic of encountering them. They basically attack any outsider that comes in, and the Gridanians themselves are the exception to the rule. In their defense, they're right; every uninvited incursion into their land that takes root has caused havoc and destabilized everything. The balance of nature in the region is finicky, and the elementals try to maintain it but are simultaneously influenced by it. They are glad to have the aid of the conjurers, brought to them the Padjal, in keeping things in check. As you've said, it's symbiotic. The elementals help keep Gridania defended and give blessings to the people, and the Gridanians make efforts to support the elementals in maintaining their balance of energies in the area. It's also worth mentioning that the elementals are akin to energy as much as creatures due to their nature. In fact, most don't even really 'speak', they kind of vibe, and what makes a Padjal particularly important is they can sort of translate this back and forth. When an elemental says 'no', it's not just some entity doing it. It's like nature is saying 'no' through a manifestation, and it often knows something the person doesn't, making the manifestation appear whimsical or xenophobic. *All of this doesn't matter anyway, though, because Endwalker retconned elementals to just be servants of Nophica. So yeah. None of it matters. None of Gridania's lore matters. The elementals' decisions? Were the will of Nophica, so they had no agency.* TBH the entire gods alliance raid story was a shitshow and I hate it so much.

One odd thing that I noticed during my replay of FFXIV is how starting at Ul'dah gives a more "personal" reaction to the WoL. Gridania and Limsa focus on the "crystal of light" where as starting in Ul'dah has Nanamo and the "Bull" having a strong inclination as to "who" our character is in the beginning. Having said that: I've seen experienced players advocate starting the FfXIV journey in Ul'dah as this seems to fill in certain details that an OG veteran player gets in special cutscene(s). Also the MSQ for ARR and Stormblood focus on the areas surrounding Ul'dah. On that note: unless a player levels ALL the OG jobs: it would seem that a lot of lore is left out without those jobs. An example is the dungeon with the "white mage that went nuts" over the death of her lover. Yes, the MSQ has our character interact with her a few times as a "sideline" NPC and then a brief conversation after that. She's not seen again until that dungeon. One thing that I wish the MSQ would do is focus on the lore of each city state a bit more in the beginning: apart from Alphibro's sarcastic review when selecting a Grand Company. ARR is meant to be a lore and world building introduction to FFXIV. While it does really good with the world building: the lore often comes at a later point where it doesn't seem or feel as impactful IMHO. One example of this is the "Binding Coils." We're introduced to whio was in the "red moon" and the events following that dragon's supposed death. Nothing in ARR points to who that was as clearly as Binding Coils does. I know it is optional side content now; but, Binding Coils normal should have been a required part of the MQS before going to HW (especially since we encounter his beloved in restraints). Also, Midgarsomer(sp?) held a "role" in ARR and HW; but, disappeared after HW. Where did he go (as we know he's not dead)? Why hasn't he appeared again (especially during EW)? There are a lot of unresolved plot points that are still hanging. Perhaps SE will address those at a later expansion beyond Dawtrail.

To be honest, I'll be happy to see the Gelmorran lore, the Moon'qote's, and Duskwight's lore explored even further, especially since the Lancer quest made me sad about how they treat the Duskwight guy, Foulques. Also probably the story how Nybeth Obdilord managed to bring his Palace of The Dead to the Shroud.

As much as I would love to see more of Gridania and places in Eorzea like Gelmorra.... I doubt we'll be getting anything focused on the main city states for some time. At the very least, not before 7.4 or 7.5... The way the MSQ went after we finished on the 13th, some of the side quests, and certainly how they had already relegated so much of the cast to the role quests, it felt like they were shelving the area for the time being. They really wanted to give the feeling and realization that it was time for the WoL to leave his/her roots and explore the 'New World' across the ocean now. However, it does give a new expansion room to have us come back to a realm changed in our absence.

I would most definitely like for Gridania to get expanded upon! I personally feel, after just recently replaying the ARR MSQ recently, that there’s also secrets that needs be explored within the deep woods in regards to the dark magics that make more than a few appearances throughout the story 🧐

I'd really like to see the writers explore the lives of those Ala Mhigan refugees living in Little Ala Mhigo, and what happens to them after the events of Stormblood and Endwalker.

I'll admit I didn't care for Gridania and it's people for the longest time, I've always found the other city-states more interesting ever since ARR and I still do, but after the Endwalker Tank-role questline I genuinely hope we see more of them in Dawntrial. If Square can make me care about the Elder Seedseer even if it's from a side quest then they can do the same with the entire city-state.

*gets up and hits their toe* "Argh! Those damned Allagans!"

Limsa is popular due to the location of its Aetheryte crystal being so close to its markets and that its the location of each server's Lalafell bench, first bench on the left, when facing the markets from the Aetheryte.

I would love to see a story on how those that speak for the elementals only know so much, and when they do speak, they speak without understanting the reasoning the elementals have for saying that. The poisioned ala'mighan in the Twelveswood goes on to reappear after his country's liberation. The Ala'mighans were told they couldn't stay, but what if the elementals knew their homeland would be retaken, and they needed all hands for it. That would cause us to question the reasoning of all those decisions and just how much the Padjals think they know. The whitemage quest drops hints that the Padjali were a little too narrowminded for their own good, and A'Towa'cant knew it and went far afeild to learn more of the world and its aether. Expand on that, and i think there is a solid basis for a story.

I think the main issue with why Gridania feels so underbaked is that there was a massive focus on the city-state back in Legacy. E-Sumi-Yan was considered their main representative before Kan-E Senna was introduced in a later patch, and a lot of random places in the Shroud has more context if you were a Legacy veteran or watched a video. (Thinking specifically of Amberscale Rock here, the 1.0 Conjurer quests brought up some questions and theories but, well... Never elaborated on it.) Several of the main scenario dungeons were leftovers from Legacy as well, such as The Thousand Maws which they've confirmed will never get a hard mode version. That being said, I would love to see them actually go back to the Shroud and mayhap explain more about the Elementals. If we got The Twelve explained this expansion we might as well get a proper answer on why the Elementals are fine letting a twelve-year old girl die and why Gridanians are so scared of going against them.

I know it will probably never happen, but my greatest wish is that we get to fight the elementals. Strike fear in to the heart of woods and turn that fear into an ultimatum: "You need to learn to understand us as much as we try to understand you, or we will do what we must to preserve our selves" They can't keep doing things like they did in the Tank role quests. It's only matter of time before the elementals give someone their "one bad day" and then the whole wood will be in danger as they try (and begin to succeed) at killing the elementals and Gridania as a whole. All because the elemental can't or wont try and understand mortals. Heck that is basically the plot of the Role quest. It would be nice to nip this moral issue in the bud before someone tries to do a bad over it.

One thing I would like to learn more of is the history of Miqo'te during the 5th Astral Era. We know going into it during the age of Ice that the Miqo'te migrated (back) to Eorzea en mass (Except for the G tribe) and after the age of Water they had encountered the other races and adopted modern Eorzean, but there are no records of anything during the 5th. The fact that the keepers show up in The Shroud during the 6th (Because the Gridanians treat them as new comers and problems) and according to the encyclopedia Eorzea they split off of the Seekers. The fact that the Seekers took up tribe names and the keepers split off them prior to that but after the migration really indicates that it was during the 6th or at least during the flood that they had the fateful encounter, leaving them present but unknown during the entire War of the Magi. (My own speculation: Given the Seekers love of sunny places it kinda implies that they were likely in Gyr Abania the entire time, but there is little evidence of this. But it kinda makes sense. With the Miqo'te Seekers being so few in numbers and loving sunny and high places that they would be up there in the process of the Keeper/Seeker split, the flooding would separate the two, when the Highlander Hyur showed up in Gyr Abania during this age it could be believed that they were the ones the Miqo'te met and conflict between the Proto-keepers and proto-Ala Mhigians pushed them out, when the Seekers proper actually made contact with these Hyur the adoption of the naming scheme would happen and around this point the Keepers would arrive in the Black Shroud. Again my speculation but there is so little to go on.)

You forgot to mention that unlike Uldah and Limsa... Gridania didnt need to grow, or solve any pressing internal issues. Sure, they have problems with the Duskwights but other than that... there are none. They didnt need to grow, they didnt have any real struggles. All their problems are purely external. What I would want are more quests involving Gelmorra, seeing one of the still lived-in underground settlements. And also more on the Elementals. As you said, they are not only wrathful spirits, they are also supporters and one of the reasons, Gridania exists to begin with. With all the stuff we got from Uldah and Limsa... yeah... Gridania deserves their moment. PotD and the EW tank role quests... that doesnt cut it.

Of course I want to know more about my underground homeland! I've been a Duskwight main since Stormblood 4.5, and the only home I have has two guards bullying a duskwight in front of the Lancer's Guild!

The thing that has bothered me since starting in ARR was that they have never once expanded on the underground CITY under the Black Shroud. Aka Gelmorra....The one that Duskwight Elezen come from, and still live in!

I think a big problem is that a lot of the existing lore is entirely missable. It's hidden in side quests and job/role quests (mostly CNJ/WHM but ARC/BRD, LNC, and DoH/DoL help). I think there were even occasions where Gridania lore was tucked away in seasonal events. I just hope that we get some of these lore snippets expanded on in future expansions.

One of the things about Gridania that influences the amount of story that it gets is just that it is the most stable of the city-states of Eorzea. Things don't really change much there. They are very much built upon ancient traditions, and their relationship with the elementals, and the elementals change at the pace of nature and the Twelveswoods as a whole.

Interesting how you see that one NPC in Elpis with three Elementals. So it's been a concept created by the ancients?

The aesthetic and music of Gridania and the Black Shroud has always been so nostalgic for me and I love spending time there. To get more lore to pair with this unexplained love would be incredible.

I still want a sildean subterrain style variant dungeon for gelmorra

If not already said, I think it'd be very cool to see a variant dungeon for Gridania. There were a lot of unused assets and dungeon areas back in the original version.

Talk about the Hellsguard their original tribe, Aerslant and Nagyn. As well as how both the Hellsguard and Seawolves originate from the same place and were once one people.

The endwalker LVL 90 tank quest explores the relationship between the elementals and the Gridanian people. In the series of those quests, I learned more of Gridania that I knew before.

I dunno, the Elementals seem really fickle and petty. Isn't there a family with a sick kid hanging out in front of the Conjurer's guild with a Hearer saying "Sorry kid, elementals said you're done now."

Check the lore from 1.0 thr city with most lore was gurdania back then, the mystery about moogles now showing themselves but only to the padjal and the children, the mysterious shells circle you can find in the black shroud used to be a place where kids met moogles and there is the mastery of the dragon satatue that had the traveller disappear, 1.0 was full of lore of for girdania and some of those elements are still left in 2.0 and can be found in the game including the shells circle and the dragon rock

Maybe I'm missing something, but right around 8:18 Scribe mentions "If Gridania hadn't been founded, Gelmorra would have been a modern city state." Gelmorra was a Second Astral Era civilization, and did we just forget Amdapor existed

The real problem is that to understand as much about Gridania, you have to read sidequest text, level WHM, SMN, and BRD (DRG really becomes more about Ishgard) do the Endwalker Tank Role quest, Sylph Tribe quests, and pay attention to the NPCs and quests around Palace of the Dead. It's not that the lore and story doesn't exist. It's that it hasn't been part of the MSQ since like 2.0, and the bits and pieces we have are scattered around in optional content.

It's hard to imagine a Gridania focused story in the MSQ anytime soon, since we're going all the way to Tural in Dawntrail. Maybe in patch content? I think it'd be cool to at least get a Gelmoran variant dungeon, although something like that would likely be centered around a conflict between the elementals and Gelmorans, which we've seen time and again. I'd suggest a raid story, but that's what the motherboard city thing they showed us is gonna be, right? It's difficult to imagine where they'd be able to work in a story here with everything that's already been announced and the content structures we expect. OH WAIT! There's gonna be an exploration zone, I assume linked to the new relic weapons! Gelmorans are master enchanters! There's a possible connection there. An open world zone that takes place all or primarily in a cave system could interesting as well. Plus I was only thinking of battle stuff. There could be something like a custom delivery as well, among other thigns.

Honestly at this point I'm hoping that we get a variant dungeon for Gelmorra, but I'm not really holding out for anything. It feels kind of like the writers who inherited the task of setting up ARR didn't really know what to do with the Shroud, and now it's been so long I don't think they're ever planning on going back there and are just kind of hoping people stop asking and just forget about it. Which sucks, because it was my starter city, I'm a WHM main, and my WoL is a Duskwight. It's not really helped by the fact that I think I can remember seeing all of three visibly duskwight characters in the game at this point who you actually talk to: Two are outside the Palace of the Dead ruins, and one is in the Heavensward Miner quests. They're just sort of...Not really there.

We haven't even seen elementals visually in the MSQ since the game relaunched iirc. The best documentation of them is from 1.0, it's kind of insane

The problem, such as I see it, is that development hits a bit of a snag when progression and change so often revolves around, or is in some way enabled by, the tidal-shift effects of the Warrior of Light being involved in things. Ul'dah (and relatedly Ishgard) exemplify this rather starkly. In Ul'dah, the Sultana's gaining the WoL as an ally prompted the Monetarists into an entire regicidal conspiracy to kill her before the balance shifted to her favor; in Ishgard, the WoL almost single-handedly upends a thousand years of social order (and yes, the appetite was already there, but change required them as an agent). Gridania runs into a problem here in that major change can't happen without the Elementals being integrally involved...which would require the WoL to probably become a Seedseer-tier Hearer to suitably interact with them. And canon has already more or less declared WoL deaf as a post there, even if you play White Mage. While this is hardly an insurmountable hurdle, as I see it, making that sort of a change to players' characters may be seen as no-bueno to the devteam, or it may simply be too narratively complex to be done without diverting resources from main efforts which have not yet occasioned the sort of deep-dive into Gridania that it would need (yet). Or maybe it's something entirely different, but that would be my guess.

I'd love to see more on Mach, Ampador, Nym, Gelmora and Sil'dah. Maybe even as a future expansion or two.

Limsa Popular For Different Reason!

Exploring Gridania's past via a V&C dungeon seems like a good fit and the devs want to continue supporting that system into Dawntrail. That would be a good way to have a lore dump that bridges into future storylines.

Theres a gate going north in old Gridania where the wealthiest members of society live. Haukke Manor belonged to one. The fact we couldn't visit them may be testament to an isolationism and elitism that the seedseers had to balance with the common folk after giving up excess which Haukke Manor represented. So I think that will tie into Gelmorra somehow especially since in 1.0 Gelmorra is north of Proud Creek in the North Shroud. Perhaps Gelmorrans ARE Gridania's high society in isolation. Maybe they're just told to stay out of the way by the elementals in exchange for wealth. That's always what I believed anyway. Great video!

While bandits and raiders may use the Gelmorran ruins as their base of operations, I don't think anything of the Gelmorran civilization remains, beyond what migrated onto the surface and founded Gridania. Based on what remains of places like Tam-Tara, Toto-Rak and Issom Har, I don't see there being anything but ruins left. That said, it could still be interesting to explore them in a similar sense to how we delve into the Sil'dihn Subterrane with Nanamo.

I chose Gridania as my starting city because I wanted to take bard as my starting profession, but also because as a Viera it made the most sense from a roleplaying perspective (hailing from the Golmore Jungle, coming from a society heavily focused on nature). I've also taken all the remaining professions available there, built a home there, and with all that, I do feel the place is truly where I belong in FFXIV. And you do get a better sense of the place if you do the profession quests for White Mage. But I agree that it would be awesome to have some more detailed lore to go on about the place.

One thing that really ticked me off in Endwalker was when we got to actually meet the Twelve and the writers simultaneously acknowledged that mortal faith influences them (i.e. Dalamud) while also having Nophica come out and say "actually me and Halone are best friends and also the Elementals love you and never did anything wrong"

The sad thing is Gelmorra had a lot more focus in 1.0, lots of dungeons (even some unreleased), and a lot more lore attached, it was the rewrite of the narrative that looked to the Allagans, who had basically nothing in game, as the potential source of how to change the direction of the game, the Allagans in 1.0 for most people was just the name of a road in Thanalan, not an entire civilization like we know it as now.

Personally at this point, I'd settle for bringing in a "flashback" to the 1.0 world where we can play through the old questlines. Maye something like... you were the hero from back then, here's a deep dive recovering your own "memories", but mechanically you're there with friends, grouping up, all that good stuff, with modern mechanics.

Don't forget, Gridania was pretty much completely different from 1.0. The zones were even more maze like, and the story line of the forest and crazed white mages were completely removed.

I have always wanted them to go back to Gridania/ Gelmorra, to see updated takes on the Shroud, and spin a long and exciting narrative right at the heart of good Old Eorzea. The thought is somehow just so charming to me. I'd also love another time travel expansion that takes us to an era in Eorzea's past, e.g. the War of the Magi, for instance. But we might never get that.

I love nature adjacent things in fantasy settings. I got swamp thing comics, i played night elves in WoW (even with countless stories that showed the writers fundamentally didnt understand their own lore for them), and i even paint Wood Elves and Tree Spirits for Warhammer Fantasy and Age of Sigmar. I just dont care about Gridania even in ARR lol. I dont know if its because FFXIV seems to want such powers like the elementals to be vague and distant, but their relationship with them just seems complex in a convoluted way, generally, not because of consistency and interpretation of that relationship.

As a 10 year-strong Duskwight, you have no idea how much it pains me that they refuse to acknowledge us or our homeland. Not even so much as a paltry NPC here or there. We are so unbelievably rare one could be forgiven for thinking us extinct in lore. But the fact of the matter is, as far as we know and are told, Gelmorra lives. Gelmorrans are still thriving under the Twelveswood. There may be abandoned sections of the great city here and there, but I believe the main city is intact and thriving. Cut off from the rest of the world and living in an isolated community much like Sui-No-Sato. I pray that one day they will take us there, and I hope that when or if they finally do decide to delve into Gridania and Gelmorra, that they don't just say, "Look its all abandoned ruins. There's nothing there. Hasnt been for forever. Here's a single dungeon about it. Moving on." Because it just doesn't make sense. Duskwights aren't supposed to be extinct. So if they aren't living in Gelmorra, where are they?

The mention of the duskwight elezens being enchanters makes me wonder if there wont be some connection to pictomancer and its enchanted paints

I would love a dlc focusing on the tunnels beneath the twelveswood, a whole subterranean region and a brand new main player hub ran primarily by duskwights

tbf, there is a lot more then just that. if we go by the story, we explore most of thanalan and the shrouds, yet barely ever set foot into la nocea. only things we have there would be the titan and leviathan arc, which happen in 2 zones, yet outer, central and lower la noscea, we barely set foot in and barely explore unless u start in limsa another one that i still want explained is the missing estinien lore, supplyed by the DRG Job quests, specially the events of the lvl 50 quest, what happens to estinien in it and then just the sudden "hey, im back. did something happen?" in the ARR postgame MSQ

Aahh glad to see people touching this bit of the story! It is very much touched if you do the certain yellow quest in the black shroud, but very briefly. I hope later they do touch in more lore about the duskwright, they are *so* forgotten.

the fickleness of the elementals always reminds me a bit of Japanese legends about how local Kami will get mad and cause disasters if not properly worshiped, so a small part of me can't help but wonder if part of the reason the "elementals problem" is never really addressed is because the writers are hesitant to do a plot that might come across as "Shintoism bad" Like it's pretty much a cliche of JRPGs in general to have "Catholicism bad" as a plot point, but I could see them being less inclined to say bad things about "the home team" for lack of a better word.

There's a lot of indication that Gelmorra was intended to play a much bigger role in 1.0, with unfinished dungeons and unexplained map features that seemed to be plot hooks for a future that didn't come to pass.

I really appreciate what you do. I started in Ul‘dah myself back in Heavensward. And I did realise how the story centers around Ul‘dah very much. Ironically, Kan-E-Senna is my most favorite of the three leaders. Perhaps it was why I enjoyed the Endwalker Rolequest for Tanks so much with her. And I completely agree! More development around Gridania would be great. After all, didn’t Nophica talk about the Elementals too?

I really dug the parallels in Shadowbringers between the Night's Blessed living underground on the First and Gelmorra on the Source.. and with the Sin Eaters defeated.. they started to have their own Hearers... and it had me wondering if in the distant past on the Source had there been anything like the Ronkans, broken remnants waiting to be discovered in the depths? The caves on the First had paintings by survivors of the original sundering..

I wish they explored more of the Gridania social dynamics in the EW tank role quest, it revolve around Kan-E-Senna but we didn't get much more from the citizens than panic

Watching 1.0 content has given me a lot of good answers for why things are the way they are for Gridania. If nothing else they've got plenty of untapped potential for Deep Dungeon content in Gelmorra or even something that could do more with the Elementals directly. In 1.0 they were very, very strict and wrathful at times, whereas post Calamity supposedly their efficacy has waned.

I've always wanted them to delve more into Gelmorra. It sort of feels like that was a location they were going to explore in 1.0. Until they closed it off in 2.0 calamity. I would love to for it to come back, i feel like there is so much there to explore.

There's a good amount of Gridania lore, but most of it seems hidden behind side quests and the conjurer/archer/lancer questlines. It's admittedly very subtle lore, but it's there.

I hate that one gate guard in Old Gridania who says we’re not important enough to go to the upper class neighborhood. Dude lives under a rock if he doesn’t recognize THE WARRIOR OF LIGHT AND SAVIOR OF THE WORLD

If we get another round of class based quests, I would positively love for the healers to have something in Gridania dealing with the elementals and finding out more about them

Another unsung story bit is Cid's goggles. Allegedly, he received them from the Warrior Of Light's future self, but to my knowledge we have yet to go back and do it.

Speaking of things that were forgotten- remember when moogles were supposed to be invisible to normal people? But everyone can see them?

Considering the introduction of extra lore and stories with Variant dungeons, I hope so much that Gelmorra is going to be one of them in the future. Also, it's been 10 years and THAT one door in the North Shroud still triggers me like hell xD And if it's not a starting point of extra Gridanian/Gelmorran lore, I'll riot!

What i find strange about Black Shroud are the Keepers of the Moon. We are told they are ancient people (their family names being older than Allag) that are only found in the shroud, but they aren't part of Gelmora or Gridania. How have they been dealing with elementals all this time? What is their real origin as their history can't be summed up together with the seeker of sun tribes either?

I was a little sad when Dawntrail was announced and we were going to go to the new world. I mean, I always wanted to see the new world, but we have SO much more to explore in Eorzea still. There's just so much empty space aside from all the unexplored lore in places like gridania, too. I love Gridania and I have been waiting for nearly a decade just to get another glimpse of an elemental... I just hope we don't stay away from Eorzea for too long

Even with more recent events, sometimes it feels like we only get skin deep information, if even that. Like, say, what was the First like before the Flood? We hardly know anything about the culture of any groups in the First. Now, sure, it's the post apocalypse, but the job quest with Lue-Reeq and stories about Renda-Rae show that there's still traditions being kept and history being taught, even if it's been somewhat mythologized. LET US HEAR THOSE STORIES.

I main a Duskwight, and she left Gelmorra as a young woman because she didn't want to be a poacher and bandit, but instead wanted to be seen by the citizens of Gridania as a respectable person. Then, after her Wildwood husband died, she stayed with her in-laws until she gave birth to their daughter, and left as soon as the baby was strong enough to travel because her in-laws treated her so badly because she's a Duskwight. Basically what I'm saying is that I have devoured every scrap of information I can about the Duskwight, and would kill for more!

I started in Gridania and adore its lore, and have always been a bit sad with how the community at large treats it though as you say it is understandable. After all this time I'm at a point that whenever there is potential for Gridania stories (like when we got to go to the Sil'dih ruins and I assumed we'd get a variant dungeon of Gelmora, or focus on the gridania and ixali resolution like limsa with the kobolds) I am not even surprised anymore when it doesn't happen. There is soooo much potential for Gridania, so much interesting lore and cool history and stories to tell, but it is hardly ever explored. I agree with this whole video, and I'd ADORE Gridania focus, but at this point my hopes are so very low 😅

Gridania was always my favorite hang out spots when I played.