Unsolved Mysteries Of Vana'diel

Anything we should probably know but don't about FFXI at this point? Post yours here, and maybe if any are interesting enough we can work on solving them. If it is already known, try to reference where.

I would like to know more about the defense values for Odyssey and Sortie bosses. It would be useful to make existing spreadsheets and sims even more accurate. I think there is some info about these NMs out there, but I can't recall where.

Why are Tarutaru?

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Why Mithra female locked their male up?!? And how they did it…


Asking for a friend…

Who stole all the Galka's penii and nuts?

So the only things we want to know are related to race and sex, got it lol

What specific things are you looking to learn about the defense values for oddy nm's?

Basically for Odyssey knowing each veng attack cap. I haven't done v25 myself but isn't it hard/impossible to cap on some of them?

What would be a result between a cross breed between hume and mithra? And between elvaan and taru?

It would be super neat to have a quest related to each race that enlight us about their stories, ex: the galka pilgrimage where they reincarnate, why those mithra lock their mate up, a boring Hume obsession about fishing…

Okay, no, serious answer here:

What are caturae?

We only see them in places where reality is seriously frayed (Abyssea's alternate dimension, the shredded remnants of failed timelines in Walk of Echoes, Escha, Reisenjima as it's being chewed up by Emptiness, Omen's potential future.) There's no explanation ever given for them, they're just there, but in Abyssea they're important enough that they need to be taken out alongside each zone's big threatening monster. Are they minions of Atomos softening up timelines to be eaten? Eldritch invaders? Shantotto's middle school science project gone haywire?

Teacher: Everyone, I want you to dissect these frogs.
Shantotto: Look what I made, it can cast magic. I call it, "Poroggo."

Nothing definitive, but ffxiclopedia has some descriptive text that looks like it might be semi-official.

This brings to mind, I wonder if things like this are covered in any of the JP literature, I know there are tons out there.

I would like more Gusgen Mines lore. I know an accident happened. But damn man kinda creepy hah hah.

I second that Caturae question. They reused their frame, particularly the lower portion for the Omicrons in FFXIV's Endwalker expansion, but the Omicrons are kid friendly by comparison and offer no mystery at all.

As for my own questions:

Who was the architect that built the stone buildings that float eternally in the Walk of Echoes? Like, it may be ruined and idk, orbiting Atomos's maw or something, but damned if it doesn't seem built to last. Playing host to all these outlandishly powerful interdimensional beings. That's stonework!

I feel like I missed it, but what god got out(or idk, was destroyed?) when Aldo's sister was forced to sing at the Protocrystal of Darkness? It can't be Odin, as he's older than that by quite a lot, and also presides over Shadowlord's creation in the first place.

For that matter, why is there no Protocrystal of Light?

How did Kobolds get into Tu Lia? As evidenced by the DRK AF questline, they are creatures whose minds are possessed by cursed/living weapons, so the weapons floating above the creature are actually the brain of what you're fighting, and they show up in Delkfutt's Tower and other places because they feed on the energy found there, but just how did they get to Sky? I know it was lower in the sky before reactivation by Ealdnarche, but that still doesn't answer the question!

How did the pirate that left Bartholomew's Knife in Brigandish Blade get to Sky? Can airships just reach it?

For that matter, why did the Zilart imprison the Shijin in Tu Lia?

The Protocrystal of Darkness is Odin. They talk about the Divinity of Darkness in the cutscenes with the crystal which is also the other name for Odin. They also tell how the Divinity of Darkness created Demons for the Shadowlord which was Odin. The protocrystal is just as old as Odin and was moved by the beastmen during the war.

Story stuff is OK I guess, but I all about unknown things in terms of game content and mechanics.

Titles titles titles! There are many titles that are in game data but unobtainable due to one reason or another, but there are two titles that were added to the game that are supposedly obtainable somehow but no one seems to have ever found!

I'll gladly renew my sub and give a billion Gil to anyone that can attain the fortune's favorite and/or high roller titles!

I figure without a prize offering, no one will ever find those

For anything else title related or otherwise that might have been previously unknown, go check the mastery rank topic and a few things were revealed there at some point

Find out what patch they were added in and you can probably get an idea of the content its catered towards, IF its indeed obtainable and wasnt added as placeholder then forgotten about (which is very likely)

It can't be though, because he resides outside of it and is awake 900 priors to it being shattered at all, fighting Alexander in the Near East.

Not too mention all the way older than that stuff revolving around allowing Galkas to reincarnate because of the bad *** that fought alongside him against Chaos 5000 years ago or whatever.

If he could exist outside of it without it being shattered by the lay, then shattering it by the lay was pointless. Has to be something else, and it's like a dropped plot thread, honestly.

Anyone ever keep track of which Louverance appears in CoP cutscenes? I swear it changes a time or two before the end reveal and I always forget to note which scenes. The mystery being how they pull it off with no one catching on.

Are Mithra the right-wingers of Final Fantasy 11?

I noticed something: Out of all the Enlightened races, the Mithra seem to be the most conservative/right-wing of them all. Think about it, the Humes, Elvaan, and Tarutaru practice plenty of gender equality, letting plenty of their women fight and lead (though all three do still have remnants of the patriarchy), and the Galka are the most gender-equal due to only having one gender. The Mithra, on the other hand, don't let their men fight or lead. Well, they did let one of them do those two things, but they don't let the vast majority of them do it. Instead, they still keep most of their men in the kitchen.

Also worth noting is that Bastok, San d'Oria, and Windurst can be visited, while Gha Naboh cannot. That seems to hint that the latter doesn't have open borders.

Edit: Also came up with a theory that Mithran society would be very likely to frown upon abortion, for two reasons: 1) Because they see their women as the expendable gender. 2) Because their women are tasked with the duty of protecting their children (and their men, too).

They were mining the mythril seam in there back before the Northern Expedition and there was a "massive cave-in"

https://www.bluegartr.com/threads/48835-Timelines-The-Republic-of-Bastok

Everyone is missing a one crucial question: does Ayame wear panties or fundoshi?

I was running a mule thru Quicksands for missions and noticed (possibly due to DAT pack?) there hieroglyphics seemingly made by the Galka in the basement that were fairly detailed - just curious if these have any significance or were ever referenced? (in TVR I guess?)

Trying to think of other random lore stuff that I will question from time to time...

Last I saw her, sha wasnt using neither.

Actually, she wasnt using anything, iirc.

Maybe its because the native "full strip + Encumberance" aura I have on me that affects the opposite gender.

I think I'd also kind of like to know why, exactly, traditional Starlight Celebration candies require ancient magic to produce. I want to believe that at some point somebody would have figured out how to shape a candy cane without casting Flare at it...

Because mages want to use ancient magic for something at least.

Could it be that prior to the Crystal War stuff, he wasn't actually awake but acting through his avatars? During the time of his fights with Alexander, for example, he lent his power to Luzaf so maybe Luzaf was effectively his summoner?

Or perhaps a full summoning was performed by someone during those events, similar to Karuha-Baruha summoning the actual full-power Fenrir in the War? I've never seen any detail about the mechanics of a full summoning, like how long it can last or how much free will it actually has beyond what the summoner commands it to do. Does anyone know if it's ever explained where Karuha-Baruha learned to perform a full summoning in the first place? Isn't there some association between him and the Maelstrom mage? There are threads there that I can't quite connect and my memory isn't great on this stuff...

Also, there's Valhalla. Odin seems to have a function in Vana'diel beyond the other avatars, so I'm not sure it's even accurate to apply the same rules to him that are applied to the other six. Even when sleeping inside his protocrystal, perhaps he's awake in Valhalla and that gives him some ability to influence events.

These are pure speculation of course, but there's enough wiggle room that I don't think we can conclude with certainty that Odin was awake in Vana'diel before his protocrystal was destroyed. The rules of what an avatar can and can't do have never been very clearly defined to begin with, which is itself a bit of a plot hole but I think it's intentional. The avatars are supposed to be mysterious.

I did find this quote from the FF Fandom wiki (not the FFXI one, just the general FF one) although no source is given for the information:

"Alexander was defeated 900 years ago in Ragnarok, a battle between he and Odin, which destroyed the nation of Alzadaal. At some point afterward, a group of people sought to harness his full power, and accidentally destroyed his proto-crystal in the process. With his body destroyed, and his proto-crystal gone, Alexander was a dormant god for many years."

If anyone knows the source for that info, it would be greatly appreciated!

I'm drawing blanks as to specifics right now, but there are spots in a lot of zones that seem like they should be special locations(based off their unique design comparative to the rest of the zone) that ultimately are just...there. I always wondered what SE intended to do with some of these spots.