Wings of the Goddess

I am still making my way through FFXI's last full expansion, but the story essentially gives us a glimpse into the history of Crystal War, with a twist.  Things aren't happening the way they're supposed to, and somehow a mysterious cat figures into things.  What is the link between Atomos, emptiness, creation, and the Champions of the Dawn?

Part 1 of the WotG Missions include:
1 - Cavernous Maws
2 - Back to the Beginning
3 - Cait Sith
4 - The Queen of the Dance
5 - While the Cat is Away
6 - A Timeswept Butterfly
7 - Purple, The New Black
8 - In the Name of the Father

Part 2 of the WotG Missions include:
9 - Dancers in Distress
10 - Daughter of a Knight
11 - A Spoonful of Sugar
12 - Affairs of State
13 - Borne by the Wind
14 - A Nation on the Brink
15 - Crossroads of Time

Part 3 of the WotG Missions include:
16 - Sandswept Memories
17 - Northland Exposure
18 - Traitor in the Midst
19 - Betrayal at Beaucedine
20 - On Thin Ice
21 - Proof of Valor
22 - A Sanguinary Prelude
23 - Dungeons and Dancers
24 - Distorter of Time
25 - The Will of the World
26 - Fate in Haze

Part 4 of the WotG Missions will include
27 - The Scent of Battle
28 - Another World
29 - A Hawk in Repose
30 - The Battle of Xarcabard
31 - Prelude to a Storm
32 - Storm's Crescendo
33 - Into the Beast's Maw
34 - The Hunter Ensnared
35 - Flight of the Lion
36 - Fall of the Hawk
37 - Darkness Descends
38 - Adieu, Lilisette
(missions completed; not yet recorded)

Part 5 of the WotG Missions will include
39 - By the Fading Light
40 - Edge of Existence
41 - Her Memories
42 - Forget Me Not
43 - Pillar of Hope
44 - Glimmer of Life
45 - Time Slips Away
46 - When Wills Collide
47 - Whispers of Dawn
48 - A Dreamy Interlude
49 - Cait in the Woods
50 - Fork in the Road
51 - Maiden of the Dusk
52 - Where It All Began
53 - A Token of Troth
54 - Lest We Forget
(missions completed; not yet recorded)


WoTG Quests:

In addition to the mainline missions, each nation has it's own independent storyline, which I have recorded separately.

Bastok

Political strife between the Galka and Humes are at an all time high, and now the murder of an official only aggravates matters.  See the relationship between friends Werei and Gumbah, and the rivalry between Volker and Zeid.

Part 1: Quests in this video include
1 - The Fighting Fourth
2 - Better Part of Valor
3 - Fires of Discontent
4 - Light in the Darkness
5 - Burden of Suspicion

Part 2: Quests in this video include
6 - Storm on the Horizon
7 - Fire in the Hole

Part 3: Quests in this video include
8 - Quelling the Storm
9 - Honor Under Fire

Part 4: Quests in this video will include
10 - Beneath the Mask
11 - What Price Loyalty
(quests completed; not yet recorded)

Part 5: Quests in this video will include
12 - The Truth Lies Hid
13 - Bonds of Mythril
(quests completed; not yet recorded)


San d'Oria

This story features the adventures of the Young Giffons, a group of rambunctious kids unsatisfied with the way adults handle affairs of war. What does the future hold for Excenmille and Rahal?

Part 1: Quests in this video include
1 - Steamed Rams
2 - Gifts of the Griffon
3 - Claws of the Griffon
4 - Boy and the Beast
5 - Wrath of the Griffon

Part 2: Quests in this video include
6 - Perils of the Griffon
7 - In a Haze of Glory

Part 3: Quests in this video include
8 - The Price of Valor
9 - Bonds That Never Die

Part 4: Quests in this video include
10 - Songbirds in a Snowstorm
11 - Blood of Heroes

Part 5: Quests in this video will include
12 - Chasing Shadows
13 - Face of the Future
(quests completed; not yet recorded)

Also, by special request, here is a short clip featuring Excenmille's Dynamic Entry from Wrath of the Griffon:

 Windurst

The Yagudo will stop at nothing to destroy the  Tarutaru, but all efforts to prevent disaster are being lead by the Warlock Warlord, with the help of the Ministers,  Mithra Mercenaries, a young Ajido-Marujido, and... a Mithra male?!?

Part 1: Quests in this video include
1 - Snake on the Plains
2 - The Tigress Stirs
3 - The Tigress Strikes
4 - Knot Quite There
5 - A Manifest Problem

Part 2: Quests in this video include
6 - When One Man is Not Enough
7 - A Feast for Gnats

Part 3: Quests in this video include
8 - The Long March North
9 - The Forbidden Path

Part 4: Quests in this video will include
10 - Sins of the Mothers
11 - Howl from the Heavens

Part 5: Quests in this video will include
12 - Manifest Destiny
13 - At Journey's End
(quests completed; not yet recorded)


For ease of reference and to keep them all in one location, as new missions and quests are released, I will edit this post and add them here, but I'll make sure to make an update post as well.

Windurst Missions and SOB Quests

Being a “career mage”, I fell in love with Windurst and the mysterious aura of magic that enveloped the city and surrounding ancient ruins. What makes the Windurst missions unique among the nations is the way they tie in so well with other quests, as well as the RoTZ and CoP missions. In particular, the “Star Onion Brigade” (S.O.B.) quests are intricately linked with the events from the Windurst story line, so much so that I heavily debated whether I should make them their own video (about 30 minutes long), or integrate them with the already two-hour long Windurst mission video. I decided that in order to fully understand the sequence of events, the two could not be separated. I also found it important to include cutscenes from the Summoner Flag quest (I Can Hear a Rainbow) and the Fenrir Prime quest (The Moonlit Path). The result is the longest video I have produced to-date, even 20 minutes longer than CoP Chapter 5.

This story is as much about the Cardian named “Joker” as it is about the Star Sybil, Karuha-Baruha, Ajido-Marujido, and the history of Windurst. You also get background into the Kuluu and Zilart, and the origin of summoning magic. Only by combining the various sources described above does the viewer/player understand how Joker comes be resurrected, the rebirth of Fenrir, and the final outcome of his/their promise to the S.O.B.s.

As with the San d’Oria missions, I have omitted those cutscenes which deal specifically and exclusively with the Shadow Lord, as you can get that complete story in my Shadow Lord Missions video. I have also slightly altered the order of the scene from the “magicite” mission since placing it earlier actually explains events in 3-1 and 3-2. I inserted the SOB and Carbuncle/Fenrir quests in the positions I felt made the most sense to the story overall, trying to follow the grand sequence of events of the various characters’ interactions with each other, specifically the Ace Cardians, Nanaa Mihgo, and Semih Lafihna.

This video has been a long time in the making for me. While I completed the Windy missions right after the new year, I have held off completing the recording until beating Fenrir (which I finally did last weekend); I’m now glad I did, as the result is much more cohesive video than would have otherwise been possible.

Mithra Trackers

Yet another set of side quests to CoP provide additional story related to the Mithra Trackers, which were sent to the middle lands to accomplish three things:

• - subdue the wyrms that threaten the world with destruction (Shikaree X)
• - learn more of the sleeping gods who supposedly hold the power to obliterate the emptiness (Shikaree Y)
• - discover the location of Mildaurion, who knows the method to awaken the deities (Shikaree Z)

While the CoP missions themselves deal primarily with Shikaree Z, the quests "Tuning In" and "Tuning Out" give a great deal of information into Shikaree Y's investigation. Specifically, this video provides yet more background for the Dark Divinity (see the NPC Fellowship quests). 

 

The other quest presented here ties in the Trackers with Goldmane, and gives a brief glimpse of Tiamat in her rage. This video is a compilation of the cutscenes from "One Good Deed". 

A Timely Visit

This is a compilation of cutscenes from the quest “A Timely Visit”, which many players frequently site as one of the most memorable side quests in FFXI. This video tells the story of Vijartal Caphleux and gives a little history on an important San d’Orian artifact, the Scepter Rouyaulais.

Goldmane & Louverance

Several quests share the stories of various side characters from the CoP storyline. Two in particular share a very close relationship with each other.

 

The first video presented here is the story of a young girl named Sanctia who sets out to find the legendary bounty hunter that captured Atarefaunet. This is a compilation of cutscenes from two quests - "Chasing Dreams" and "The Search for Goldmane".  

 

 

 

The second video is a compilation of cutscenes from the quests "Signed in Blood” and “Tea with a Tonberry”. These quests give additional background into the characters of Louverance and Atarefaunet.

 

 

 

This story ties into the Goldmane quests, as well as CoP missions 3-3, 5-3, 7-2, and the epilogue. It is also somewhat related to the flashbacks in the 4-1 magicite missions.   The identity of the two Louverances (one in red mask, one in purple) is one of the more confusing plot-lines in CoP.  However, based on the information from these various sources, I pieced together the following:

 

The real Louverance (in the purple mask) is the grandson of Francmage Mistalle, who died mysteriously in Bostaunieux Oubliette after coming back from the northlands allied expedition.  His family used to own Carpenter’s Landing but was stripped of its land and title after challenging another family to a duel, which is against San d’Orian law.

 

The new count of Carpenter’s Landing was Teulomme. He had ties with Atarefaunet’s Band, but when the leader was captured by Goldmane (Vukki-Chebukki), Teulomme tried to poison Atarefaunet to prevent him from revealing secrets about his customers. Atarefaunet used this opportunity to fake his death and escape the San d’Orian prisons. Atarefaunet then stole Louverance’s identity and donned a red mask.  Atarefaunet attempted to use this false identity to take revenge on Teulomme and steal his lands back from him.

 

The “Louverance” in the red mask that features prominently in the Chains of Promathia missions is therefore actually Atarefaunet.  This explains why Honoi-Gomoi gives him the Mimeo Mirror (the taru admitted ties to Atarefaunet in Chapter 3-3), and it also explains the history between the red-masked “Louverance” and Vukki-Chebukki (Goldmane) in CoP Chapter 5-3, and why Vukki threatens to notify the San d’Orian authorities.  However, when the real Louverance (purple mask) attempted to interfere and re-claim his identity, Atarefaunet tried to set a trap for him in Carpenter’s Landing (which you end up foiling in Chapter 7).  In the end, Atarefaunet challenges Louverance to a duel so as to fake his death yet again and don a new identity as a San d’Orian priest, and perhaps restore the Remevel name.

 

Incidentally, I also found out that Atarefaunet’s Band plays a role in the THF AF quests (which I don’t plan on doing) and that Atarefaunet may have adopted the identity of Vauderame, who plays a role in the San d’Orian rank missions and the quest “A Timely Visit”.  For some interesting discussion, visit:

 

http://killingifrit.com/forums/topic/157528-wings-of-the-goddess-speculation-thread

 

http://killingifrit.com/forums/topic/176370-cop-plot-questions/