#the sundering

[tritoch]

one thing i like to do when i'm feeling too unbothered and chill and normal is read venat discourse on twitter. makes me insane every single time it comes up. "she placed herself as a god above the ancients and judged that they had no right to live" "she was taking the only path available to her to stop meteion and defeat the final days because it needed to be a race that could handle dynamis" wrong wrong wrong! learn to read!

venat was stopping a planned mass sacrifice of non-ancient life by the only means available to her. that is the primary motivation for the sundering. shadowbringers says this to you, very very clearly. hythlodaeus in "a greater purpose," 5.0 (this is when you're chilling at the DMV together):

The Convocation of Fourteen─well, it was Thirteen at the time─endeavored to create a will for our star. They would repair the fundamental laws of order and halt the spread of destruction. But creation on such a scale required an immense source of power... Of those of us who still lived, nearly half offered up their lives in the name of salvation. And from their sacrifice, Zodiark was born. Just as we had hoped, He reached forth and halted the march of oblivion. ...Yet oh how the star had suffered. So many species lost. The land was blighted, the waters poisoned, and even the wind had ceased to blow. Once more did our people give of themselves to Zodiark. Another half of our race sacrificed to cleanse the world; to ensure that trees and grasses and myriad tiny lives would sprout and grow and flourish. The cycle of life had begun anew, and we reconsidered the means by which we might protect it. The Convocation decided thus: we would nurture our world until it was bursting with vitality. Then, when the time was right, we would offer some portion of its living energy to Zodiark... In return, He would restore to us those brethren whose souls had fed His strength, and together we would resume our role as stewards. There were, however, those who disagreed with this plan. They argued that enough had been sacrificed to Zodiark─that this new world should belong to the lives newly born. These dissidents surrendered their life energies in the creation of Hydaelyn, an incarnation of their opposing belief. And for the first time in history, our people stood divided... Know you, then, how this conflict ended?

Hythlodaeus is very clear: Following the first 50% sacrifice to Zodiark, the land was dying and there had been a mass die-off. A second 50% sacrifice (so 25% of the pre-Zodiark Ancient population) resolved that, cleansing the world and restoring nature and non-Ancient life. Afterwards, the Convocation planned a third sacrifice: they would "nurture [the] world until it was bursting with vitality," the "trees and grasses and myriad tiny lives" he describes earlier, and then sacrifice some considerable amount of that life to restore the Ancients comprising Zodiark.

People pretend that there's a lot more ambiguity on this point than there is, but it's quite clear that when he says "myriad tiny lives," he is saying something that encompasses the modern peoples of Eorzea or their very near ancestors (it's only been about 12,000 years since the Sundering. For comparison early modern humans emerged about 300,000 years ago, and there's no suggestion I'm aware of that evolution even exists on Etheirys anyhow). There's a couple very strong pieces of evidence for this:

First, anything that exists on multiple shards must have existed pre-Sundering, since there's close to no multidimensional travel (barring Ascians and the Exarch). Thus, all the player races, which we know exist on each shard so far, as well as, say, the Amalj'aa, the Kobolds, the Sahagin, and the Qiqirn, all must have existed before the Sundering since we also see them on the First.

Second, the phrasing of "trees and grasses and myriad tiny lives" positions "lives" as a category that encompasses everything that isn't trees and grasses. We can surmise that when he describes the Hydaelyn faction standing for "lives newly born" he's again describing basically everything that isn't plants. this again includes the spoken races of the current game or their ancestors; they are a clear part of what was at stake in the sacrifice.

Third, if that doesn't persuade you that Hythlodaeus is talking about lives like yours, consider that you've just spent the last few quests exploring the city full of giant ancient magic people going "wow! you're so small and childlike! what a miniscule living being you are!" When Hythlodaeus gives this speech about "myriad tiny lives," he is a literal enormous giant sitting next to you, a very tiny living being from his perspective.

This sacrifice, which Hythlodaeus explains to you in the DMV, is the crux of the matter and the root of Venat's choice. The time loop, her knowledge of Meteion, the debate over the right solution to the final days—all of that is secondary. She explicitly is unsure up until you meet her in the Aitiascope whether the time loop is stable and real and applies to you.

The essential issue is the fact that the Ancients are supposed to be stewards of the star, and now they are going to engage in mass sacrifice of lives that Venat knows are people like her and her peers (mostly this is thanks to being a humanist who believes in the sanctity and dignity of life but she also has the confirmation of your post-sundering, totally humanlike existence). Just a quarter of the Ancients' original number remain, their society is in tatters, and what's left is in the process of actively betraying every ideal they ever claimed to hold by slaughtering the life they allegedly guide and care for (which they know to be ensouled!) to undo the great and noble sacrifice of their loved ones.

but venat's faction is weak. it's her and like 13 sorta-important people she knows plus maybe some unnamed others. they lack the numbers or the raw ability to make something that can defeat zodiark, and will need instead to lean on venat's abilities.

her morals do not allow her to stand by as the convocation plans a mass sacrifice of "lesser" life. her circumstances do not give her the time or ability to win them over through rhetoric or decisively defeat them with force. nor can she actually destroy zodiark, because then the final days would simply resume. nor, I assume, is she interested in straight up slaughtering what remains of the ancients until the convocation's plan becomes impractical, assuming she is even strong enough to do so with just the twelve and the watcher's ancient selves for backup. there is no longer an option on the table which does not involve great pain. left to choose between unacceptable options, she chooses the one route which seems able to protect the vitality of the world and uphold the ancients' mission of shepherding all life upon the star towards flourishing: the sundering.

[princefleabitten]

Legend of Drizzt: The Companions was sweet, nice read, would totally recommend, I can’t even think of a dumb comment

[wings-dings-and-iggyfings]

Wingfeather episode 5 "The Sundering" is out!

... and I forgot it was Friday again. 😅 It's fine, it's fine, you can watch episodes 4 and 5 on the livestream if you missed 4 last week. Episode 5 is a super important one (if you couldn't tell by the title), so definitely watch it if you can! It's available until 7:30 ET on Saturday!

Youtube Link

Angel Studios link

Janner and Kal snuggling:

finally got the screenshot without the pause button on it!

[hathaway-hayes]

"The simplicity. The stars. The sundering. The sanctity and the sin. I will all be gone. With only ashes and Epitaphs to echo." - Hathaway Hayes (excerpt from "005")

[phyrefly6]

Gave this one another attempt.

[starrysnowdrop]

Alright, so are we ever going to find out just what the Source and the shards actually look like from space? We already know that Etheirys itself and the moon were sundered, but what does that look like in regards to the rest of its solar system? Do they all revolve around the same sun, or do they all have its own sun? What about any other planets? Look, I just need to know how it all works cosmologically speaking, because I’m a big ass nerd. Also its 8 am on a Monday morning and I need more sleep.

[sunderedandundone]

Oh, SoSu. Oh, poor SoSu.

So just to back up and provide some context: if you ask me, the great sin of UrSkek culture isn' so much that it's 'collectivist' but that it's just...*so* collectivist that the society can't countenance any person within it needing more than their 'fair share.' And before you say that sounds reasonable, by 'fair share' they really mean it. No UrSkek is supposed to really need more of any resource than any other.

Hold on! What I'm saying is that In other words, *disability is fundamentally not okay.*

Yeah. How you like them apples?

Part of the problem, of course, in their defense, is that they haven't had to think about disability for literal eons. Not on a societal level. Disease, war, and poverty have after all been eliminated, and the species is a product of extensive self-administered genomic engineering. (We are talking here about non-physical/informational 'genetics', of course, given the UrSkek's being Ascended all. But the point is, whatever malformations or birth syndromes the original bio-species might once have been prey to are long gone.) Trauma? Is something that happens very occasionally to off-planet UrSkeks, and off-planet UrSkeks don't really ever count quite as much as Homeworld UrSkeks do. If you are by some wild chance traumatized off-planet UrSkek, you're best advised just not to attempt a homecoming. (I'm sorry nobody mentioned that, GraGoh.)

I knew I had it in my head that SoSu was a Homeworld native, and that they also had a bit of a 'rough patch' in their youth that they had by sheer dint of geological time lived down, to eventually become one of the most respected academics on-world. I knew they had genuinely spent all the intervening eons working to be the very bestest, most unselfish, most not-needing-extra-love UrSkek they could possibly be.

But it wasn't till today that I realized, *they got put through Purgation as well.*

Purgation is the other sentence you can get that's not exile, and when UrSkeks choose exile over Purgation, it's because they're not keen on the idea of having the problematic bits of their body-mind 'genome' copy-pasted over with fresh acceptable code. The idea, in short, of being partly mind-wiped and re-educated. In a sequestered environment. As many times as it takes for them to start behaving rightly again.

It dawned on me today with horror that the first time round, SoSu chose Purgation.

It happened when they were very young. They were an immense psychic talent who -- again in what fairness to the UrSkek I can muster -- had to watch their emotions, which at that time easily escaped control and could manifest in, you know, stuff that could hurt people or the environment.

Or at least, stuff that if it went further, which they worried that it might, could conceivably potentially hurt somebody.

They underwent the psychic surgery to be made better, and again, worked for actual billions of Earth years to become a paragon. (And as NaNol's also-tragic story recounts, probably even benefitted from some of the extremely subtle and slow-moving erasure of history that is a phenomenon among certain UrSkek elders, so that in time, between that and the other UrSkeks that had actually been there voyaging off to other worlds or higher planes and never coming back, as the Eldest of the Eldest do...they could in time enjoy a spotless reputation on Homeworld.)

The second time they were convicted of a crime, all those long Ages later, they......................did *not* choose Purgation.

[kazz-brekker]

the sundering duology by jacqueline carey, a summary

[feralkwe]

To the Edge (And Back Again)

Chapter 8: Sundered

Fandom: Final Fantasy XIV

Rating: Teen and Up

Characters: Elidibus | Themis, Venat | Hydaelyn, Emet-Selch, Lahabrea

Summary:

"And then Zodiark rotated the platform, and Hydaelyn said, "Where the eff do I stand?" -- Supplied by @yamisnuffles. (I'm still laughing about this, days later.)

We've come to the end. Thank you to everyone who took this journey with me.

[haaaaaaaaaaaave-you-met-ted]

The Sundering by Paul Dainton

[jadebrightwind]

Hope has dirt on her face Blood on her knuckles The grit of cobblestones in her hair And just spat out a tooth As she rises for another go.

don't give up

[veldrune]

The Sundering Of The World | WoW In-Game Book (PDF Version)

Knowing that the Well's destruction would prevent him from ever wielding magic again, Illidan selfishly abandoned the group and set out to warn the Highborne of Malfurion's plan. Due to the insanity brought on by his addiction and the stinging resentment towards his brother's affair with Tyrande, Illidan felt no remorse at betraying Malfurion and siding with Azshara and her ilk. Above all else, Illidan vowed to protect the Well's power by any means necessary.

Heartbroken by his brother's departure, Malfurion led his companions into the heart of Azshara's temple. Yet as they stormed into the main audience chamber, they found the Highborne in the midst of their final dark incantation. The communal spell created an unstable vortex of power within the Well's turbulent depths. As Sargeras' ominous shadow drew ever closer to the surface, Malfurion and his allies rushed to attack.

Azshara, having received Illidan's warning, was more than prepared for them. Nearly all of Malfurion's followers fell before the mad queen's powers. Tyrande, attempting to attack Azshara from behind, was caught off-guard by the queen's Highborne guardsmen. Though she vanquished the guardsmen, Tyrande suffered grievous wounds at their hands. When Malfurion saw his love fall, he went into a murderous rage and resolved to end Azshara's life.

View/Download our full PDF here 📄

[clowns0up-felix]

ZELINK

one of the few Zelink ships that I do in fact ship

I love love love them they’re perfect

[klimtsonian]

we’re both of us beneath our love, we’re both of us above 🕊️🩸

my artificer-surgeon, valentin, and his friend/mentor/???, ivan, played by the wonderful @gildedruin 💘

[luc1d17y-ffxiv]

Cutest. Sundering. EVER.

[fisherrprince]

for as much as I love and adore stories where the power of hope and friendship is a blinding wonderful light, full of happiness and ease and laughter, something hits different about the way hope, in ffxiv, looks like this

covered in blood and dirt and limping forward. It’s probably been said multiple times before but isn’t it a reassuring image to know that hope drags itself through the mud just as much as you do and keeps fighting when it can hardly stand. and amidst deepest despair, light everlasting