Step into FFXIV and what do you see? You see Ishgard and its knights. You see the Far East and its samurai. You see Limsa Lominsa and its pirates. You see Ala Mhigo and its fighting monks. You see Garlemald and its steampunkers. You see Ul'dah and its...what, exactly?
Ul'dah has multiple vanilla fantasy tropes that could have made it as (if not more) traditional than Ishgard, but this was not centered in the story:
Instead, we were given an "Ul'dah corrupt!" storyline, which has some interesting themes regarding class warfare and whatnot, but for the average fantasy player, it's not particularly compelling from a worldbuilding perspective. It is so disproportionately centered that Ul'dah looks worse than other city-states. Ishgard had an almost identical class arrangement and storyline about transitioning to a republic. Ul'dah was going to transition as well until it just...didn't. Limsa Lominsa is a city of pirates essentially, and doesn't even have a state apparatus the same way Ul'dah does. In fact, the caricature that you can just "do any crime as long as you pay" is a little dismissive of Ul'dah's aforementioned state apparatus; it is the same as medieval Europe or even the modern day judicial system. I am pretty sure Ul'dah would have a 'temple court' akin to Babylonians using priests to run the court system.
(I appreciate Gridania may also have the short end of the stick here, but I guess maybe...sylvan mages is their archetype?)
In the end, I don't think anything is going to be done about Ul'dah despite all these pre-existing tropes. When we bought Heavensward, we expect Ishgardian content. When we bought Stormblood, we expect Ala Mhigan and Far Eastern content. Ul'dah is "concluded" from a grand story perspective, which is a shame given everything I mentioned above. Ah well!
submitted by /u/Seriphyn
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Ul'dah has multiple vanilla fantasy tropes that could have made it as (if not more) traditional than Ishgard, but this was not centered in the story:
- It has a monarchy: The most straightforward trope Ul'dah has easily allows "For King and Country!" flavours. There could have been more done with this if the class warfare storyline wasn't the focus.
- It has an order of royal knights: Apparently, these are the best damned sword-and-shield fighters in the realm, to the point they have their own Job crystal. Instead, they were absent in all storylines involving the Sultana, and were bumped in favour of the generic Ishgard knight.
- It has an aristocracy/nobility: Heavily implied, but there is no lore on how people become nobles, or what it entails. Could have interacted with the monarchy trope somewhat, but instead Ishgard was favoured for this, as it was for the other vanilla tropes.
- It has Eorzea's main land army: The lorebook mentions the Immortal Flames are the central force of the Alliance, and a line of dialogue from the Serpent marshal staff officer that accompanies Raubahn during Rhalgr's Beacon mentions that the Flames "belong on the frontline", while mentioning the Twin Adder to be more of a support force. A similar line somewhere mentions the Maelstrom have a weak land presence vs their naval one. To be fair, Ishgard is also implied to have a powerful army for obvious reasons, and the Flames did get their spotlight in Stormblood.
- It has a sophisticated government system outside of the Syndicate: The Divan are a cabinet of viziers who oversee law, finance, engineering, the interior, commerce, war, religious affairs, and palace affairs. They are assisted by the thaumaturges, which leads to...
- It has a state church that serves as both a civil service and university: Similar to the role the Roman Catholic Church played in Medieval Europe, the priestly mages (or magely priests?) of the Order of Nald'thal form the bureaucratic and educated class of Ul'dah. Their swindling of money from the smallfolk is played for laughs, but it is no different than how the Catholic Church offered letters of indulgence. Leading onto...
- It is a city of magic: If thaumaturges comprise the learned class that run the civil service (and are implied to have influence that transcends royalty and Syndicate alike), then outside of Gridania, Ul'dah is similar to Sharlayan in being a city of mages and scholars. Instead, they stand around going "Mwaha!" along with the coin-swindling caricature, and the institute of higher learning flavour was given to the Scholasticate instead.
- It has a rich history of martial arts: At least, that's what the Pugilists' Guild implies, but instead they serve as bouncers for a club, even if they can stand toe-to-toe with Ala Mhigan monks.
- It is, potentially, the second-most powerful nation on Hydaelyn in terms of projection and influence: The Immortal Flames are the Alliance's vanguard as mentioned, and Ul'dahn economic interests can be found in Costa del Sol, the markets of Gridania, and all the way to the Far East with its own embassy alongside the Garlean Empire. Throw that in with the fact it is a monarchy, and the Sultana's de jure sovereignty over all these interests means she is possibly the second-most powerful individual on the star bar the Emperor.
Instead, we were given an "Ul'dah corrupt!" storyline, which has some interesting themes regarding class warfare and whatnot, but for the average fantasy player, it's not particularly compelling from a worldbuilding perspective. It is so disproportionately centered that Ul'dah looks worse than other city-states. Ishgard had an almost identical class arrangement and storyline about transitioning to a republic. Ul'dah was going to transition as well until it just...didn't. Limsa Lominsa is a city of pirates essentially, and doesn't even have a state apparatus the same way Ul'dah does. In fact, the caricature that you can just "do any crime as long as you pay" is a little dismissive of Ul'dah's aforementioned state apparatus; it is the same as medieval Europe or even the modern day judicial system. I am pretty sure Ul'dah would have a 'temple court' akin to Babylonians using priests to run the court system.
(I appreciate Gridania may also have the short end of the stick here, but I guess maybe...sylvan mages is their archetype?)
In the end, I don't think anything is going to be done about Ul'dah despite all these pre-existing tropes. When we bought Heavensward, we expect Ishgardian content. When we bought Stormblood, we expect Ala Mhigan and Far Eastern content. Ul'dah is "concluded" from a grand story perspective, which is a shame given everything I mentioned above. Ah well!
submitted by /u/Seriphyn
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Continue reading...