Dude, I had no idea you and Sir Vyre on YT are the same person! I really enjoyed reading your write up on the expansion ranking video, I always looked forward to your feedback on the videos lol.
As far as what Teodor mentions here, I'll have to speculate. I hope you're ready for a bit of a rabbit hole. But, I think this is explained further by Balamor when he described the Cloud of Darkness. He also explains the different worlds (though he never mentions them being physical planets in the sky) that the CoD consumes when they lose the balance between light and darkness.
Quote:
RoV 3-10
Balamor: And what I learned is that my world, your Vana'diel, and the countless other stars that exist are but islands floating within this cloud.
I’ve always found it interesting that the Star Sybil “looks to the stars” for guidance. Perhaps she can glimpse similar realities by doing so. Esha’tarl also claims that the destiny of mortals is found within the stars. Perhaps, hints at this story element, long before it was officially introduced? Regardless, There are two theories I have regarding this information.
Theory 1: Alternate Timelines Become Stars
Everytime an alternate timeline (like the shadowreign timeline) is closed off from Atomos’s devouring, it becomes a star in the night sky. This explains why, of the 5 worlds we visit throughout the story (Vana’diel, Shadowreign timeline, Abyssea, Escha, and Desuetia), all of them look and progress the same way.
There are some problems with this theory though. Unlike the Shadowreign timeline, the other worlds actually have their own names (like Abyssea, Escha, Desuetia). For example, the denizens of Abyssea believe that, when Altana broke apart the great crystal, Abyssea was created instead of Vana’diel.
Quote:
Aby 10
Esha’ntarl: It was the Age of Gods. The Lord of Chaos, Promathia, desired and succumbed to a complete death. In Her grief, Altana bestowed upon the fallen deity the light of the true crystal, and in so doing gave birth to life. Thus was mankind created. The true crystal, drained of its power, shattered into five parts. Bereft of its blessed light, the realm of the gods was reduced into the world of mortals, Abyssea.
Could the shattering of the great crystal have created multiple timelines, each seen as their own star? Maybe, but there’s also a second way of understanding this.
Theory 2: Many Physical Worlds
There are at least two different types of alternate worlds in FFXI. The first type is one that we're introduced to in Wings of the Goddess. The shadowreign timeline and Altana's timeline are fighting for which gets to continue existing.
Then there is the type of world that we're introduced to by Teodor (I thought RoV was the earliest reference to this, but that cutscene you shared proves otherwise).
As far as this second type of alternate world, I think we actually visit some. I think Desuetia and Escha are actually different worlds rather than simply being different timelines. Iroha and Zeid's Dialogue early on in RoV suggest that Escha isn't the future of Vana'diel, but rather a different place altogether.
Quote:
RoV 1-11
Zeid: Its layout and features resemble Zi'Tah, of that there can be no doubt. Yet the magic and warmth are gone, like we are in a different world entirely... Or is this the future?
Iroha: I do not believe so. If the coming Emptiness is to swallow the world, then I would be more inclined to believe that we are catching a glimpse of what that swallowed world would be like.
I really wish I could get another translation of the original dialogue here, but it reads like Iroha agrees more with Zeid's fist assumption before shooting down his second. But the notion that Escha and Desuetia are different worlds is ridiculous, given they look, and progress identical to Vana'diel. That is, unless the same people are born to each of the worlds. There is evidence for this, we see past characters emerge from Selh’teus’ mothercrystal in RoV, despite it not even existing when those people were born (RoV 3-19).
If all the same people were born to each of the different worlds, it would allow them to stay mostly the same, with only minor variations. After all, Esha'ntarl does speak of counterparts Abyssea has for each individual.
Brief Note on Crystals
FFXI portrays crystals very interestingly. It is almost like the Crystals are 4th dimensional structures protruding in the 3 dimensional world (I mean dimension as defined by spatial dimension in physics).This is why crystals are used to telepoint, because they are just shorter 4th dimensional pathways to another 3-dimensional point. This is also why the same Mothercrystals are visible in multiple locations, why one crystal could literally be inside itself (the Empyreal Paradox), and why everyone insists that there are only 5 mothercrystals despite there being at least 10 (between Vana’diel and Abyssea, and certainly more if the other worlds are counted) aside from Selh’teus’. Perhaps the reason the CoD seeps in through the mothercrystals first is because the shortest path from one world to another is through 4th dimensional structure connecting the two.
This would further support Theory 2, if all the mothercrystals of the worlds are the same 4th dimensional structure, it would follow that every world will, at some point, have the same people born into it. The crystal topic is an entirely different rabbit hole though, lol.
Again, all of this is just speculation! I’m just piecing things together from my knowledge of the in-game lore.
Thank you for attending my dissertation… What are your thoughts?
