How old is Vana'diel?

[Baketsu]

Just for fun


I am thinking the planet is over 5 to 6 billion years old. The roads are just too worn down, plus the whole dragon spire thing really freaks me out. I am thinking the dragons spire was built outta some carbon fibre material as a orbital ring around the planet and for some reason a part if not all of it came crashing into the planet. The moon looks an awful lot like our moon, so is Vana'diel actually the earth aged a couple more billion years? The sun hasn't yet swelled up in the process of becomming a red giant, but it is not expected to do that for another 2 to 3 billion years. The continent layout is very different from earth, but the natural drifting would change the layout of the land quite easily. Also is the issue of scale. Based on how many Vana'diel days it takes to cross a certain distance i would say that the map of the known "Vana'diel" world is not that very big at all. Maybe about 500 miles across. What else exists out there? will we ever know?

Species is the next issue, if it is indeed a future version of the earth, then where did all the species come from? My theory is that they are a result of Genetic engineering gone amuck. The Elvaan, the Tarutaru, the Galka, and the mithra are all based off humans that have been engineered to fit a niche of some sort. Humes are the exception. My theory is that thousands of years ago some Galka were mining and ran across some humans in suspended animation from many millions of years ago, they were revived and the Humes, or Humans were a race reborn after being absent for a very long time. Did these revived humans know what had happened? Could they have lost their memories due to being in stasis for so long, or did they leave anything behind that may be a clue to what happened.


More to come as i pull it from the inner depths of my mind.

[Josiejo]

Mithra evolved from standard housecats who were tired of "meowing" for steak and only getting little hard pieces of processed cat food.

[Prrsha]

Mithra evolved from standard housecats who were tired of "meowing" for steak and only getting little hard pieces of processed cat food.

LMAO! Best post ever!

[Sugarpie]

I think Galka's grew from monkeys, Mithra from feline's, Taru's from Midgets and Elvaan from retards who look gumpy =P hume's are like normal er something

[Kahvi]

I think Galka's grew from monkeys, Mithra from feline's, Taru's from Midgets and Elvaan from retards who look gumpy =P hume's are like normal er something

I'd rather think it was genetic cosplay run amok.. Like in the recent Time Machine movie (the adapted, updated one) where people could reprogram thier dna...

actually that would be cool...


Oh, and Galka look more sauran based than monkey... kinda like hairy lizard men.

[Baketsu]

I think Galka's grew from monkeys, Mithra from feline's, Taru's from Midgets and Elvaan from retards who look gumpy =P hume's are like normal er something

I'd rather think it was genetic cosplay run amok.. Like in the recent Time Machine movie (the adapted, updated one) where people could reprogram thier dna...

actually that would be cool...


Oh, and Galka look more sauran based than monkey... kinda like hairy lizard men.

Cosplay ran amuck, LOL, so are elvaans Trek fans who took Mr. Spock too far?

[Sugarpie]

Indeed.....indeed....elvaan's look gumpy alright....trekys <.<

[Lihera]

well, seeing as there was a terribly racist thread (but for one post) about the origins of the various races, or rather, what they relate to in today's world.

The Elvaan are most likely meant to be a caricature of the Holy Roman Empire, around the time of the Habsburg Dynasty; Essentially a snooty arrogant theocratic monarchy run by extremely tall people. There are Roman accounts of battles with the Germanic tribes in the time of Augustus, describing their size and great physical strength - I think one account has the germans getting speared by the Romans, pulling the spears out, and then killing Romans with them.

I'd put the Humes in as the Russians for the following reasons:
1) Bastok = Vostok? In cyrillic, it would look like Boctok.
2) Emphasis on mining and big centralized heavy industry, which is one of the cultural stereotypes of Russians and Communist regimes, especially with their mineral treasure trove in the Volga region, and huge steel town, Magnetogorsk, where the light levels are permanently decreased as a result of all the particulate matter in the air.

I have no idea who the Galka could be, but their Shamanistic religion and beliefs about reincarnation could make them either Buddhist, Polynesian, or some indigenous South American or African culture, maybe the Aymara? The SE people aren't fools, and did their research I think, so the fact that the Galka were driven from their home is also possibly significant. I'm just not familiar enough with SE Asian cultures to know if they're meant to be some Polynesian culture.

I agree that the Taru are Japanese, or maybe the Japanese and Koreans combined. The unification of their tribes sounds startlingly like the Tokugawa Bakufu. And their cultural obsession with Hello Kitty, well... Now, I'm not sure whether the Mithra are meant to be the Ainu, or created as a foil for the Japanese belief that cats are lucky.

And this is probably opening a big door of ugly, but wasn't there a Siamese city called Tonberri at one time?

[Prrsha]

The Mithra seem to be modeled somewhat after the Native Americans. Theirrr dress and beliefs are similar.

As for the Taru they seem like the old Chinese Dynasty with their rigid belief in laws and their thirst for knowledge. Or maybe ancient greece.

[Josiejo]

Or maybe ancient greese.

I have ancient grease in my kitchen.

[Ephi]

i hated Grease... its boring to me... wasnt it like a musical or somthin?

[Prrsha]

ancient greece.

Therrre, I fixed it.

[Ziada]

*cough* Zilart missions.

[Keiri]

Here's how it really happened. Mithra evolved from vengeful housecats, and quickly overthrew their human oppressers, and consumed an endless feast of beef and fish, this is true. Galkas are obviously evolved from some sort of disease-ridden lizard-like creature. They may actually be the Gorn, though (see Star Trek). Tarus are quite likely descendents of the Oompa-Loompas...the speech impediments come from inbreeding. Finally, Elvaans are a genetic disaster caused when the government started dumping nuclear waste near the Keebler Elves' treehouse.

[Kahvi]

well, seeing as there was a terribly racist thread (but for one post) about the origins of the various races, or rather, what they relate to in today's world.

The Elvaan are most likely meant to be a caricature of the Holy Roman Empire, around the time of the Habsburg Dynasty; Essentially a snooty arrogant theocratic monarchy run by extremely tall people. There are Roman accounts of battles with the Germanic tribes in the time of Augustus, describing their size and great physical strength - I think one account has the germans getting speared by the Romans, pulling the spears out, and then killing Romans with them.

I'd put the Humes in as the Russians for the following reasons:
1) Bastok = Vostok? In cyrillic, it would look like Boctok.
2) Emphasis on mining and big centralized heavy industry, which is one of the cultural stereotypes of Russians and Communist regimes, especially with their mineral treasure trove in the Volga region, and huge steel town, Magnetogorsk, where the light levels are permanently decreased as a result of all the particulate matter in the air.

I have no idea who the Galka could be, but their Shamanistic religion and beliefs about reincarnation could make them either Buddhist, Polynesian, or some indigenous South American or African culture, maybe the Aymara? The SE people aren't fools, and did their research I think, so the fact that the Galka were driven from their home is also possibly significant. I'm just not familiar enough with SE Asian cultures to know if they're meant to be some Polynesian culture.

I agree that the Taru are Japanese, or maybe the Japanese and Koreans combined. The unification of their tribes sounds startlingly like the Tokugawa Bakufu. And their cultural obsession with Hello Kitty, well... Now, I'm not sure whether the Mithra are meant to be the Ainu, or created as a foil for the Japanese belief that cats are lucky.

And this is probably opening a big door of ugly, but wasn't there a Siamese city called Tonberri at one time?

Ainu/American Indian is prolly a good start for figuring the mithra coriillary in FFXI, possibly mixed in with a little bit of polynesian.

As for Bastok... Well i'd be inclined to think a mingling of communist russia and expansionist america (After the lousianna purchase, louis and clark, and "Stewart's Folly") There are lots of elements that can be intrepeted many ways. Using the expansionist america model, the galka would corrispond to the chinese laborers, the human miners would relate to the "non chinese" laborers, and the other hume's would be the "New York fat cats" and other rich, upper crust of the time. Both Communist Russia and Expansionist America models have enough in common to lump them together. Mostly being the obvious division of the "Haves" and the "Have nots"

[Yugi]

when you check play time or current time it tells you vany's date and year isn't it 978 A.D. or something?^^;

[Kahvi]

that is in relation to the current calculated era, not to mention that time is all in relation to the ones that percieve it. If you look at our modern calander, the dates are in relation to one particular event in history that is suggested to be the starting point for our current era. Who is to say that our calander will be the same one in use 5 thousand years from now? or even 10 thousand years from now?

Likewise with the calander in use in Vana'diel. it marks the time in relation to when they feel they started thier current era of existance. Whether or not it is correct is another matter.

Hehe.. i can talk about time till the cows come home and smurfs turn purple from holding thier breaths.

[Yugi]

makes me think of Chrono Trigger / Cross

[Kahvi]

I liked Chrono Trigger/Cross... I'm still looking for something that was kinda a prequal to Cross tho called Radical Dreamers... its not very well known i think, and i dont know if it hit the english speaking market.

Another way of looking at Chrono Trigger: For all the time period hopping done in that game, the heroes never really went "back in time" beause thier personal timelines kept going forward. But enough about that, time to get back on topic...
-------------------------------------

Pretty much, because of the record keeping and the conquests through out the ages, it is impossable to get a correct figure as to how old Vana'Diel is. I am half tempted to start crossing over ideas from the land of Fa'Diel to help explain life in Vana'Diel. (it may even be possible that they are on the same "planet" but in different regions far away from eachother. I personally wouldnt mind thinking of Heaven's Tower in windurst as a Mana Tree of sorts. It would explain the Cardians as a different type of Jumi.) Final Fantasy titles have some spin-off games that are nothing more than a region of a planet (Ivalice in FFTactics/tactics advance) so this is a possiblilty.

[Yugi]

i always though that FF was on the same planet based type thing.^^; you know like earth?

[Baketsu]

My personal theory is that these are all Earth, however there once was race that created a "Slider" type device that allowed them to create gateways between all the worlds (all of them being Earth in some form). Somehow the gateways persisted and all these worlds are linked. The original builders have vanished without a trace. <Cue scary music> All of these alternate earths have all sorts of creatures. Humans seem to be the only common thread sugesting that humans at some point in their history were the builders of these devices that allow travel. blah blah blah blah........

[Yugi]

yeah..alternate earth.^-^ the kind i wish i lived in..>.>

[Prrsha]

Sniff... Why oh why cannot there be RL mithrrra.

[Alya Mizar (Tsybil)]

yeah..alternate earth.^-^ the kind i wish i lived in..>.>

Sniff... Why oh why cannot there be RL mithrrra.

Why can't we just move to Vanad'iel and live there?

(Still dreaming of that white picket fence and kittens playing in the yard.)

[Yugi]

cause of evolution being dumb..;.; i

[Alya Mizar (Tsybil)]

/em giggles

[Kahvi]

cause of evolution being dumb..;.; i

Not to mention that humans in general have trouble accepting that they are not the only intellegent species on the planet... just imagine how it would be if they actually had other species that could communicate in a common tongue...

then again, there always will be racism anyway. something like that would just shift the focus a bit.

[Alya Mizar (Tsybil)]

Not to mention that humans in general have trouble accepting that they are not the only intellegent species on the planet...just imagine how it would be if they actually had other species that could communicate in a common tongue... [/quote]

All I can say is "So long and thanks for all the fish".

Seriously, Dolphins and whales, while they have marvously complex brains, seem to have put a LOT of that brain mass to work decoding sonar. No trival thing, they are good enough to spot a sick or injured fish in the midst of a school. (On the fly CAT scans anyone?) While they seem to be brighter than dogs, maybe even brighter than apes, comunication between our speices seems limited to "Here is a new trick". "Yum Fish!!"

And with their vocal aparatus, would not nouns best be a coppy of the sonar reflection of the object involved? One ping could say "Slow tuna with a tomour on its liver"

And we now can comunicate with several of the Great Apes. Unfortunatly, they are lousy conversationlists. (Funny but still true.)

Still searching for a definition of inteligent behaviour that would include the Human Speices and its predelection for self destruction.

[Yugi]

not to mention humans and pornography..-.- the stupid messed up hormones of men would try to get mithra into it..not to mention the avatars..but they'd find themselves dead or chopped up or killed if they tried

[Baketsu]

Not to mention that humans in general have trouble accepting that they are not the only intellegent species on the planet...just imagine how it would be if they actually had other species that could communicate in a common tongue...

All I can say is "So long and thanks for all the fish".

Seriously, Dolphins and whales, while they have marvously complex brains, seem to have put a LOT of that brain mass to work decoding sonar. No trival thing, they are good enough to spot a sick or injured fish in the midst of a school. (On the fly CAT scans anyone?) While they seem to be brighter than dogs, maybe even brighter than apes, comunication between our speices seems limited to "Here is a new trick". "Yum Fish!!"

And with their vocal aparatus, would not nouns best be a coppy of the sonar reflection of the object involved? One ping could say "Slow tuna with a tomour on its liver"

And we now can comunicate with several of the Great Apes. Unfortunatly, they are lousy conversationlists. (Funny but still true.)

Still searching for a definition of inteligent behaviour that would include the Human Speices and its predelection for self destruction.

Yes, but we have a opposable thumbs, it's not good just to have a big brain, it's what one does with it that make the difference. Also the size of the brain doesn't much matter either because a human can loose almost half of their brain (one hemipshere) and still be mostly functional. Also Elephants have pretty big brains too, but mnost of it is used to move their massive bodies, because the more body, the more nerves and the more gray matter needed to coordinate it all. I think Neural density has a role to play in it too. Some brains may be big, but the number of neurons could be quite low. So if we could find a creature with high neural density and incorpoate that genetic attribute into humans we could have a super genius with a normal sized noggin, or a complete idiot.... More research is needed.