• verb (used with object), mused, musing.

3.to meditate on.

4.to comment thoughtfully or ruminate upon. 

• noun

1.Classical Mythology.any of a number of sister goddesses, originally given as Aoede(song), Melete (meditation), and Mneme (memory), but latterly and more commonly as the nine daughters of Zeus and Mnemosyne who presided over various arts: Calliope (epic poetry),Clio (history), Erato (lyric poetry), Euterpe (music), Melpomene(tragedy), Polyhymnia (religious music), Terpsichore (dance),Thalia (comedy), and Urania (astronomy); identified by the Romans with the Camenae. any goddess presiding over a particular art.

2.(sometimes lowercase) the goddess or the power regarded as inspiring a poet, artist, thinker, or the like.

3.(lowercase) the genius or powers characteristic of a poet.

Inspiration/Idea -> Player/Writer -> Character/Story

           Player/Writer

       /                            \

         Character/Story

• Weekday events now slightly outnumber weekend events - but given that the weekend has fewer days, it is still more popular than weekdays. 
• Service events now has a lead over “Other Events” & Trade events are now slightly more popular than performance events. 
• Bar/Tavern/Restaurant events still dominate everything else. 
• No adventuring events so far! 

Lodestone: “The highlands of Gyr Abania in the eastern reaches of Aldenard were once under the control of a martial nation known as Ala Mhigo. It was, perhaps, the historically conflicted nature of the territory that forged the country into a significant military power. Even as this aggressive nation sent its forces to conquer in the west, it repelled repeated attempts at invasion from the east. In the Year 1557 of the Sixth Astral Era, however, it finally fell to the incursions of the Garlean Empire. From that time onwards, the country became merely another imperial territory under the governance of its usurpers. Though the people of Ala Mhigo once revered Rhalgr, the Destroyer, as their patron deity, any such religious observance has since been forbidden by the controlling authorities.”

Encyclopedia Eorzea: “The Ala Mhigan flag is a field of purple upon which stands a silver griffin with sword in talons. The winged creature is the sigil of the nation’s royal house, and the blade signifies the force used to see all other clans bend the knee before them. Purple is the color of Rhalgr, the guardian deity of the nation, and is associated with His element of lightning. The hue’s presence on the pennant also marks the bond betwixt the royalty and the religious order of the Fist of Rhalgr.”

Encyclopedia Eorzea: “Though Ala Mhigo has long been ruled by kings, the Garlean invasion two decades past brought an end to the monarchy. The city-state is now a provisional imperial territory, and its people, the Emperor’s albeit unwilling subjects. Under the Garlean viceroy’s iron reign, not all Ala Mhigans have earned citizenship and its privileges. Many live in squalid conditions, their lives little better than those of slaves.”

Encyclopedia Eorzea: “All matters of governance fall to the viceroy - dispatched from Garlemald - and his staff.”

• 60% Highlander Hyur
• 10% Midlander Hyur
• 10% Hellsguard Roegadyn
• 10% Seeker of the Sun Miqo'te
• 10% Other Races 

Encyclopedia Eorzea - Mercenary Work: “In the rocky terrain of Gyr Abania, few are the patches of arable soil. There were many disputes over the extant ones - jealously guarded by their owners, and fiercely coveted by all others. Indeed, even after Ala Mhigo unified the region, little industry could grow from the lands. The men and women of the nation began to sell the only thing they could: their skill at arms. They found many buyers, particularly during the times of conflict betwixt the Eorzean city-states. Indeed, each nation is said to have had its own company of Ala Mhigan sellswords. Even today, many of those who fled the city-state eke out a living as mercenaries.”

Encyclopedia Eorzea - Magitek Manufacturing: “For many centuries, the mountain hamlets of Ala Mhigo were self-sufficient. Villagers coaxed crops to grow from small fields, and reared animals for their wool. However, the Garlean invasion brought an end to this way of life with magitek technology. Now, Ala Mhigans are forced to work for a pittance in great smoke-belching factories, while Garlemald reaps wealth and luxury from their labor.”

Encyclopedia Eorzea: “Ala Mhigo stands at the far-eastern tip of Abalathia’s Spine. For centuries, it commanded the lands of Gyr Abania, and was known as the premier military power amongst the Eorzean city-states. In the face of the armies of Garlemald, however, this might proved less than sufficient in repelling the Empire’s metal-clad warmachina, and thus has Ala Mhigo borne the yoke of imperial rule for the past twenty years.”

Tyon: “We had heard that Ala Mhigo’s armies were more than enough to fight off the Garleans. Tidings of her demise were… disheartening, to say the least. And now there is word that Garlemald has made a stronghold of the ruins. It is from there that they launch their winged monstrosities, such as the one which destroyed our own airship. Their juggernauts have been spotted in the skies over every part of the realm, and their silver-clad soldiers are becoming a regular sight in the borderlands. Aye, it would seem the Garleans mean to unleash their full wrath on Eorzea.”

Encyclopedia Eorzea: “Though now under Garlean rule, the city-state of Ala Mhigo once boasted the greatest military might of all Eorzea. Among its standing armies were the monks - ascetic warriors as dreaded by foes on the field of battle as the city-state’s great pikemen. The monks comprised an order known as the Fist of Rhalgr, and it was to this god - the Destroyer - that they devoted their lives of worship.”

Griffin Mount: “Fantastical winged beasts native to the unscalable peaks of Abalathia’s Spine, griffins actually have a long history of serving as mounts. Indeed, before the city-state’s fall, the Ala Mhigan army maintained a regiment of griffin-back soldiers who would harry opposing forces.”

1.0 Lodestone: “The strategy of the lancers is to out-range and fluster opponents with their long, two-handed polearms, peppering them with a barrage of thrusting attacks. They are trained with a number of weapons, giving a diversity to their attacks that makes them extremely versatile combatants. In former times, the longspear saw the most widespread use, due in great part to the influence of the proud lancer legions of Ala Mhigo. Since then, the guild has greatly expanded its armories to include a variety of weaponry, such as the throwing javelin.”

Erik: “Ala Mhigo dispatched its pikemen - known far and wide for their effectiveness against mounted units, such as the knights of Ishgard.”

Encyclopedia Eorzea: “During the Sixth Umbral Calamity, people fleeing the floods spied a blazing comet in the night sky. As Rhalgr’s symbol is the streaking meteor, they took it as a sign of the breaker of worlds, and followed it to a new home high in the mountains. Thus, worship of the Destroyer took root in the lands of Gyr Abania. In time, one sect known as the Fist of Rhalgr grew in power and influence, and came to flourish as the state religion. However, King Theodoric oppressed this faith with fire and sword, and the Garleans - finding no value in worship - have forbidden religion altogether.”

Encyclopedia Eorzea: “To better know the Destroyer, seek strength of body and mind - such are the teachings of the Fist of Rhalgr. Over the ages, this idea has shaped all who call the mountains home. Ala Mhigo is also geographically vulnerable to invasion from Ilsabard, and this ever-present threat has given birth to a culture that greatly values martial prowess.”

Hihibaru: “In case you’re unfamiliar, Rhalgr is the guardian deity of Ala Mhigo, which is currently under Garlean rule. It’s highly uncommon for folk of other nations to revere Him.”

Waldomar: “To say it plain, plants and animals rely on the turning of the seasons. The coming of the cold tells them to hoard their food, to shed their leaves against the chill. And in its passing, winter leaves behind melted snow to nourish the land. But winter hasn’t come to the North Shroud. The conjurers believe an imbalance in the aether is to blame, but no one can say for certain. Anywise, when we saw how despearate they were - and we Ala Mhigans are no strangers to desperation - we thought it might help to tell them about Winter’s Knell.

It’s a festival for ushering in winter, where grown-ups and younglings alike cry “Winter is coming!” while hurling snowballs in a joint effort to build a giant of snow named Father Frost. What sets him apart from ordinary snowmen, you ask? Why, it’s the gemstone he bears within his breast called the Heart of Winter, an age-old Ala Mhigan relic.”

Waldomar: “A priceless Ala Mhigan relic called the Heart of Winter was embedded within the snow giant’s breast, and now it’s gone as well. The gemstone’s been with us since time immemorial. Dynasties came and went, kings ascended the throne and turned to dust - but the Heart fo Winter was there through it all. When the Garleans seized control, it was smuggled to safety, at the cost of many lives… And now it’s gone - lost by a fool who dreamed of building a snow giant. …But I refuse to wallow in self-pity any longer.”

Ice Elemental Incarnate: “In days long past, mine essence was entrapped within a stone by the art of wicked men. Of free will was I stripped, and borne away from my forest home, to be passed from one mortal hand to the next. There did I languish, waxing ever more weary, until at last I was taken by a deep sleep. So did I remain, dormant, till Fate saw fit to return me whence I came. And by snow’s rejuvenating embrace, I knew the waking world again and the power that was lost to me. My strength restored, I broke my bonds that I might once more savor the sweet air of freedom. Yet all around I found chaos. Chaos where harmony should rightly reign… And so did I set forth to bring order to the Twelveswood. Winter cometh, bearing with it the benison of ice and snow. Fare thee well, daughter of man.”

Waldomar: “Why, this is the Heart of Winter! But…what in creation’s become of its shine!? It’s as if the life has gone out of it! …I can scarce believe my ears. We’d all been told that the gemstone harbored great power. To learn that it was in truth a prison for an elemental turns my world upside down. Though it shames me to admit it, I am saddened to see the Heart of Winter bereft of its shine…but as a refugee, I know full well the pain of being parted from one’s home. A homecoming after what must’ve felt like an eternity - that’s a joy I’ll gladly share in. It also give some great comfort to know that winter is coming. It may take years - decades, even - but someday my kinsmen and I will return to our homeland. Never will we give up hope.”

Encyclopedia Eorzea: “With so few crops, the Ala Mhigan diet is a rather stark affair. However, as a stop on the trade routes, the city-state has adopted some fare from the near East and Ilsabard. The foreign influence is said to be particularly apparent in the usage of spices. For drinks, it is customary to brew medicinal teas, such as ones made by steeping the ground horns of beasts in boiling water.”

Kukusi: “The Frondale’s Phrontistery’s search for curative reagents to use in new medicines encompasses the whole of Eorzea - including those parts one might not think to look. Many from the lands of Ala Mhigo, for example, show great promise… which makes the Garleans’ decision to occupy the region all the more regrettable.”

Meffrid: “In my homeland, long antelope horn is a traditional remedy with poison-purging properties. If you could bring me, say, four horns, I’d forever be in your debt.”

To fully understand the realm of Eorzea, one must first delve into her past and witness the violent cycle of birth and destruction which forged the land from darkness.

Eorzea is characterized by elemental calamities which plunge the realm into short, yet harrowing periods of chaos known as Umbral Eras, followed by extended periods of prosperity known as Astral Eras. What then, you may ask, of the land before the first calamity struck? Drawing from the songs and writings of countless civilizations, theologians believe prehistory to be a tempestuous time of uncontrolled creation overseen by a mercurial god or gods-creation which abruptly ends with the destruction of all that exists, ultimately allowing for the rise of mankind from the wreckage. Historians and scholars of biological fields, however, claim that mankind could not simply have “appeared” and suggest an evolution of the species in the thousand thousand years preceding the first calamity. What the two groups do, however, agree upon, is that modern history begins with the First Umbral Era.

It was not until the advent of the Sixth Umbral Era that, by process of elimination, scholars were able to deduce with certainty that the elemental calamity which resulted in the First Umbral era was probably aspected in some way with wind-possibly in the form of terrible hurricanes, tempests, or tornadoes. Recent dealings with the moogles of Moghome, in which village elders spoke of a wind-driven disaster…[rest is illegible]

It is during the First Astral Era that mankind is believed to have learned the essentials for survival-the ability to carve stone tools and the ability to make fire. Tools allowed for the rise of agriculture and a departure from hunting and gathering, which eventually resulted in the abandonment of nomadic lifestyles and saw the establishment of villages and towns. Within these towns, civilization thrived and basic sciences such as animal husbandry and basic metallurgy were discovered and refined. As the towns grew, so did the hegemonies that oversaw the towns until finally kingdoms were born. However, kings, as is their wont, are rarely content with what they have, and soon the leaders of the new countries abandoned the creation of tools for the forging of weapons, and the era descended into bloodstained chaos.

Equipped with picks and axes, historians believe mankind made short work of nature’s bounty. Cave paintings dated to the First Astral Era suggest that the extinction of hundreds of [???] species, from rose-headed bears, to winged couerl-like scalekin, to firs reaching over a thousand yalms in height.

Despite the constant wars waged by kings seeking to expand their domain, mankind thrived, its members multiplying with each passing summer. To house and feed the people, forests were felled and fields planted. To forge their weapons and tools, mountains were gutted and skies blackened. For countless years, nature suffered this wanton spoiling of the land until finally the scales were tipped. Mountains of fire belched forth ink-stained clouds which covered the sky and thrust the realm into eternal darkness. And from the sky fell an endless rain of white-hot levinbolts which razed fields, boiled lakes, and split the very walls of mighty fortifications. For a full twelvemoon and a day did nature’s fury ring.

Fearful that the gods meant to purge the land of mankind once and for all, the people abandoned their homes and towns and fled underground into caves. Awaiting them here, however, was not salvation, but death, for the caves became breeding grounds for pestilence and plague. As the people sat trapped in darkness, watching their families meet slow, painful ends, they concentrated their efforts on the one path left to them-prayer. Theologians believe this mixture of desperation and focused prayer gave way to the very first magical incantations.

And so through primitive magicks did mankind endure until the skies had finally parted-those showing proficiency in these esoteric techniques rising to positions of power within the communities. The people were drawn to these charismatic leaders who accredited the fall of the previous era with the faithless kings and their insatiable avarice. They claimed that only through faith and prayer would they be saved from a similar fate, and thus were the first organized religions born. 

In but a matter of years, kingdoms centuries in the making were replaced with theocracies populated with men and women eager to prove their worth to the gods, that the divine beings may spare them from the land’s wrath. Church leaders convinced the people that through the building of massive temples, monuments, and effigies would they achieve peace and salvation. To adorn these constructs so that the gods would smile upon them, the people perfected the arts of painting and goldsmithing. To protect these constructs from those who would defy the gods, they solved the riddle of steel. To better bask in the gods’ light, mankind reached high to the heavens.

Church-commissioned construction of countless cathedrals, temples, and acropolises[?] during the Second Astral Era saw the regal advancement of stonemasonry, the eternal saying of “to the heavens” powering early architects to develop techniques that might defy the very laws of nature.

Faith and fear had given the churches absolute power over the realm; however, absolute power corrupts absolutely. Soon, desire for plenary control pit rival religions against one another, culminating in an extended dark age of holy wars, witch-hunts, and cleansings. Towns were burned, children sold into slavery, all while men and women died in the thousands. With no one to tend the fields at home, crops withered, leaving the few who had not marched to war to starvation. The coffers of the victors swelled with the spoils taken from their enemies, but there was nowhere to spend this newly acquired wealth. The road to rebuilding would be a long one, but the people were convinced that if they maintained their faith, they would rise as they had done once before. By this time, however, the gods had grown weary with mankind-the hubris displayed by the church enough to convince the heavens that the people of Eorzea must, once again, be humbled. In the following moons, the sun grew large, parching the earth and sapping the life from all creation, be it plant or animal. Verdant fields and lush forests were reduced to dust-choked wastelands, the people who relied on them for their livelihood, stricken with famine. The Calamity of Fire was upon them.

Recent discovery of plant-eating fauna in the Grand Wake have some scholars convinced that Thanalan’s modern-day deserts were once a lush greenland lost in the rage [possibly “ash”] of the calamity that ended the Second Astral Era.

Northern Thanalan is perhaps most famous for the Ceruleum Field, a vast area under which lies plentiful liquid ore waiting to be mined and processed into fuel. Naturally, so valuable a resource has attracted the attention of the Garlean Empire, which also relies on the ceruleum to power their machina. The Immortal Flames and the imperial army have come to clash often in the area, and the struggle for dominion over the rich lands has only grown in the scant years following the Calamity. 

Though abundant on the northern continent of Ilsabard, only a handful of ceruleum deposits have ever been discovered on Aldenard, the largest being buried under the Sea of Spires in northern Thanalan. Ceruleum is a highly unstable substance and will begin to evaporate when in contact with air, resulting in the bluish haze from which the area earns its name. 

Camp Bluefog

Camp Bluefog was built as a post whence armed men could patrol the Ceruleum Field. Originally, this duty fell to the Brass Blades and Stone Torches. With the Empire’s forces a mere stone’s throw away, however, the Immortal Flames have since taken command.

The East and West Watchtowers

To power their legions of warmachina, the Garleans require a steady supply of the aether-based fuel known as ceruleum. With Bluefog housing the largest deposit in Eorzea, the Empire has begun their own mining operation but a stone’s throw from the allied refineries, heightening tensions in the area and prompting the construction of two watchtowers.

Abandoned Amajina and Sons Mythril Mine

The discovery of mythril in a small copper mine in Bluefog triggered the Great Rush (also known as the Mad Mythril Rush) which saw would-be prospectors flock to the Sea of Spires in search of quick and easy fortune. The veins that run through the mountains, however, were not deep, and it was but ten summers that the mines ceased to yield the precious metal, forcing many to abandon their claims. Now the shafts serve as hideouts for remnants of the Lambs of Dalamud, a doomsday cult that gained popularity at the end of the Sixth Astral Era. 

Dalamud’s Talons

Grim monuments to the Calamity’s coming[?], Dalamud’s Talons are relatively small formations of corrupted crystal. People have given them their fearsome name as they are thought to resemble the mighty claws of Menphina’s loyal hound.

In the final days of the Sixth Astral Era, the ceruleum fields of northern Thanalan proved to be one of the most hotly contested areas in all Eorzea, with the Empire amassing a giant host northeast[?] of Bluefog to seize control of the local fuel refineries. Though outnumbered three to one, Raubahn and his army succeeded in “pushing” back the enemy.

Ceruleum Processing Plant

Operated by the Amajina and Sons Mineral Concern, this plant refines raw ceruleum into fuel for engines and other modern machinery. The Immortal Flames keep a heavy contingent of soldiers on hand to ensure that the facility and its precious product do not fall into enemy hands.

Castrum Meridianum

Castrum Meridianum is the southernmost stronghold of the XIVth Imperial Legion. Inside it stands the Praetorium, a fortress within a fortress and the command center of the invading legion. The Castrum is also one stop of the Phantom Train, a monotrack[???] machine used to transport ordnance to Castrum Centri in Mor Dhona.