Final Fantasy XIV storylines

Final Fantasy XIV features several major story arcs. A player first experiences their home nation story, before these arc's converge into one, similar to Final Fantasy XI.

With the reboot of the game to A Realm Reborn, Version 1.0 storylines have concluded and are no longer accessible - a first in the series.

Limsa Lominsa
During a ship trip to Limsa Lominsa, the player wakes up hearing a soft singing voice, yet cannot see anyone resembling a songstress around. Upon exploring the ship, the vessel is suddenly attacked by a horde of sea beasts. With the help of Sthalmann and Y'shtola, the beasts are defeated, however a giant Sea Serpent attacks and nearly destroys the ship.

After exploring the town, the player reaches Fisherman's Bottom, the fisherman's guild and is asked by Wawalago to escort Sisipu to the Oschon's Torch lighthouse. There, they notice something is wrong and investigate the area, finding a few dead bodies and two suspicious characters talking. These two are Emerick and Travanchet, speaking about an agreement Emerick wants to make with the Sahagin. When spotted by the player, however, both pretend to be mere pullers and leave. Back into town, the player discovers that the Sahagin have been frequently attacking lately, with the latest targets being the lighthouse and a fleet of the Knights of the Barracuda.

On a later mission, Baderon speaks about a mysterious island called Seal Rock, whose legend is famous amongst the people of Limsa Lominsa. Speaking with some of the wench's patrons, the player meets Y'shtola again, who reveals that she is searching for a shadowless man accused of assisting the Sahagin.

Out of leads, Baderon tells the player that the young Lalafell Sisipu wants to talk with him. She reveals the location of a secret fishing hole, and asks a meeting at the place. Upon arriving there, the player finds 1st Squadron Commodore Sthalmann and after a long conversation, learns that he believes that the young pirate Emerick to be the one responsible for betraying his squadron to the Sahagin, but is not sure about the details.

Back in town, Mealvaan's Gate is attacked by an all female pirate gang known as the Sanguine Sirens, led by Rhoswen, searching for Emerick, but Y'shtola soon appears and stalls the pirates until the Barracuda Knights arrive; before leaving, she briefs the player on the secrets of Seal Rock island.

After these events, the player learns about the location of Emerick, held prisoner on one of the Knights of Barracuda galleons, and infiltrate the ship. However, a Sahagin ship is spotted closing fast, and the player has to locate Emerick as quick as possible, meeting him and Merodaulyn of the Sanguine Sirens on the lower deck, ready to battle, and can choose which one to help in the following battle, only to discover it was merely a charade prepared by the two; before being able to acquire any information, the ship is swallowed by a massive wave created by the same Sea Serpent that was spotted earlier.

Y'shtola protects the player with a magic barrier, who later awakens on one of Limsa Lominsa's docks, with the Miqote's words ringing on his head: "Find the key".

Learning about another Sahagin attack, the player goes to the Gods's Grip investigate, only to find Commodore Sthalman and Y'shtola fighting. Suddenly, the world is enveloped into a bright light, and when the player's sight returns, he finds himself in the same place as before, but alone.

Searching around, the player finds Sthalmann, Merodaulyn, and Emerick holding a rushed conversation, and learns that the trio is planning to claim the treasure of Seal Rock for themselves and use it towards their own gain, before finding himself once again in front of Y'shtola, who claims that you have the ability to view the happenings of the past, and a meteor shower erupts from skies right after, raining light down upon the player and the others.

As soon as it ends, a strange man appears and fights against Y'shtola, stealing the key before turning into shadows. The player loses consciousness soon after.

Awakening on Limsa Lominsa once again, the player only recalls a voice talking about "The Echo". Speaking with Baderon, he learns that a man called Blackburn carried you there and left a message, telling the player to visit the Path of the Twelve, located in the Merchants Ward of Ul'dah.


 * The story is then continued in the Path of the Twelve arc.

Ul'dah
The player wakes up hearing a soft singing voice, and notices his/her carriage just arrived on the town of Ul'dah, which seems to be holding a grand procession. Suddenly, the skies turn black and a starshower rains on the skies, disappearing in a flash.

The festivities begin and every thing seems to go well, but a Goobbue breaks off his control and wreaks havoc on the town, until he is defeated by the combined efforts of Thancred, Niellefresne and the player.

The player makes his way into the Quicksand, the Adventurer's Guild, and speaks to its proprietor Momodi. She begins to speak about some ways to earn coin around the town, when Thancred comes in and interrupt the conversation. He mentions about talks of war against the Empire, which Momodi confirms that it looks like war will soon come, as well as some rumors that the Goobbue was released because of some imperial interference.

After exploring the town, the player enters the Amajina & Sons Mineral Concern in Ul'dah, home to the Miner's Guild, and witness a commotion involving a thaumaturge named Corguevais, accused of entering the mining shafts illegally. The player tries to calm everyone down with little success, until Lalafell twin brothers Popokkuli and Seserukka enter the guild and kick the troublemakers off it.

Linette from the mining guild mentions that their primary concern is with illegal miners provoking many accidents lately; She asks the player to go to Camp Black Brush and inform them of the guild's intent to strengthen their punitive measures.

The player reaches Black Brush accompanied by F'lhaminn where they find Corguevais trying to help a wounded child named Ascilia, whose father has been attacked by a giant beast. Thancred appears and says he was the one who led the girl to the camp, as she was seeking out an enemy of her father. The girl then points to Corguevais, who discovers that he is the one the girl is looking for, as it was his fault that the Goobbue escaped.

Back into town, the player visits the Alchemist's guild where Ascillia's father, Warburton, was being treated before passing away. Corguevais is talking with the girl once again, and she says that her father came to Ul'dah to warn about a terrible danger.

Back in the Adventurer's Guild, Momodi and the player starts talking until Thancred comes in and overhears the conversation, interested, and Momodi remembers that Thancred is being called to discuss about their belief that Garlean spies have infiltrated the city.

The funeral rites for Ascillia's father, Warburton, begins soon after, and F'lhaminn tries once again to convince Mumuepo of the thaumaturge's guild to do something, since Warburton had important information on the dangers threatening Ul'dah.

Momodi informs the player that a group of the city guard has hastily left the city by chocobo. At the Chocobo Stables, the player meets F'lhaminn in a looking for a chocobo in a hurry, as it seems that Corguevais has been exiled from town and left with Ascilia, probably planning to take her back to Ala Mhigo.

Via linkpearl, Momodi informs that the city guard is searching for an exile wandering near Camp Black Brush. There, the player finds Thancred and Greinfarr discussing, as the bard claims to not know nothing about the so called danger threatening Ul'dah, and Greinfarr then speaks about their last resort - Niellefresne will try to convince the thaumaturges to resurrect Ascillia's dead father.

In the Arrzaneth Ossuary, the player and Thancred see a strange light coming from the crypts, and rush there to find a mortally wounded Niellefresne laying on the ground, and Ascilia crouched by his side, shaking in terror. Suddenly, the Echo begins to reverberate and the player is alone.

Making his way down the crypts once again, the player finds Mumuepo and Niellefresne talking about the thaumaturgy of resurrecting the dead, but upon opening Warburton's corpse, Niellefresne is stabbed through from behind. Back to the present, Thancred realizes what just happened and rushes outside, right in time to see as the skies turn black and meteors rain above Ul'dah. In this moment, he realizes that the danger spoken of by all threatens not only Ul'dah, but all of Eorzea, while the player faints.

The player awakens back at the Adventurer's guild, and Momodi tells he/she was found unconscious and brought there by a girl named Minfilia, who asks also asked to be visited at the Waking Sands, in the Merchants Ward of Uldah.


 * The story is then continued in the Path of the Twelve arc.

Gridania
Upon approaching Gridania, the player starts hearing a singing voice. Before being able to find its origin, the skies turn black and a meteor shower begins, lasting just a few seconds and everything turns back to normal as if nothing happened. Seconds after, an heavily damaged airship flies, and a small yellow light is "shoot" from it, falling in the forest.

Walking in that direction, the player finds Yda and Papalymo laying on the ground, and awakens them, only to notice they are surrounded by wolves. The battle against them ends quickly, but a treant emerges from the ground and attacks everyone, forcing the player to run until a group of moogles, sent by E-Sumi-Yan, calms the treant and saves them.

Welcomed into town, the player learns about the Greenwrath - hatred of the forest upon those who may cause harm to it - and that he (being an outsider) is full of woodsin, which needs to be cleared if he/she intends to stay safe on the Black Shroud. Miounne suggests that the player visits some of the town's guilds, each one who will provide their own help to the cleansing ritual.

In the Botanists' Guild at Greatloam Growery, a few of the town's young children starts teaching steps of the ritual dances that must be performed during a great Gridanian festival to free oneself of the woodsin. After the "class", some of them stay and asks help to reach a place deep within the woods.

Upon arriving at Lifemend Stump with Powle and Sansa, they promptly run off to see to whatever it is they came to do. Then, a mysterious conjurer appears, who admonishes the player for coming there and bringing the kids, disappearing soon after. Finally, the player meets a moogle, who gets surprised that he is being understood and asks the player to give a message to a young girl named Fye concerning a purification mask that is not broken, and therefore cannot be fixed.

Back in the adventurer's guild, Miounne comments about the recent influx of adventurers in Gridania. Soon after, the self proclaimed "saviors of the wood", Yda and Papalymo, arrives and the ask if any of those adventurers may be preparing to attack the Garlean Empire, to Miounne's surprise, who later denies it. Papalymo then mentions that if that's true, the information they have - that Gridania is preparing to wage war on the Empire - is false.

The conversation is stopped when a boy Khrimm comes in and starts badmouthing the adventurers, claiming that they have not been chosen by the elementals at all, leaving soon after. The duo goes after him.

The player then visits the Carpenter's Guild, to see the crafting of the masks that must be used during the purification rites. Remembering about the message to Fye, the player searches for the girl and finds her speaking to Khrimm and overhear talk of Fye's oldest brother Dunstan and his tragic fate of being turned into a wildling. Fye claims that she is making a new mask for her brother, refusing to give up hope of cleansing him of his woodsin.

After this, the player tells Fye the mask is not broken, and she is shocked by it, having thought it to be the sole reason her brother and Khrimm's parents were turned into wildlings. Then, she asks the player to try meeting with the moogles again and ask if there is any way to save a wildling. Upon finding a moogle, he agrees to ask the elementals themselves if a wildling soul can be saved.

The player visits the archer's guild, however, the Quiver's Hold is thrown into chaos as news arrives of some happening in the forest. Archers surge forth from the Hold, and Brother O-App-Pesi of the conjurers himself heads in the direction of the disturbance as well.

There, they find Khrimm, standing before a tree in flames. Because of this, a furious elemental comes forth and there is no way to quell its greenwrath other than battling and defeating it.

Miounne informs via linkpearl that it seems that out of fear that Khrimm will become a wildling, he has been taken into the Stillglade Fane. While Brother O-App-Pesi is talking about the boy's condition, Yda and Papalymo return from the wood together with the wildling Dunstan. Because of that, Brother E-Sumi-Yan orders a grand rite of purification, but he fears that saving Khrimm may require Dunstan to give his life.

Finally, the grand rite begins, and a group of moogles arrive. They come bearing a message to the player from the elementals, telling that his/her role in being beckoned to the wood is to be a messenger of the goddess Nophica herself, the Matron. The ritual continues as normal, and in the end Dunstan collapses. This causes the Echo to reverberate, and the sky once again turn completely black - this time, everyone sees it. During that event, Papalymo comments with Yda that they "should've stopped it, and now it's too late".

The player collapses as well, awakening only with the words of an wood hermit telling him to visit the Path of the Twelve, located in the Merchants Ward of Ul'dah.


 * The story is then continued in the Path of the Twelve arc.

Path of the Twelve

 * The three main nation state storylines converge at this point.

Following Blackburn's lead, the player arrives at the Waking Sands, the meeting place of the Path of the Twelve. There, he meets their leader, Minfilia, who claims to understand what happened earlier. To prove it, she asks the player to use the power of the "Echo" to see her past.

Upon doing that, the player sees a past conversation held on that same hall. Minfilia then explains that many people have been "gifted" with that power after witnessing a starshower, and that the Path of the Twelve is an organization that offers a meeting place for those people and strives to bring peace to Eorzea, offering the player the chance to join. After joining, the player learns a bit more about the Echo and is directed to Lady Tataru, to register himself as member of the Path and choose a Path Companion.

Not long after, a party of sylphs enter into the Waking Sands asking for help, claiming that their home, Moonspore Grove, is being invaded by imperial soldiers from Garlemald. Lady Minfilia then gives her first task to the player: Investigate the Black Shroud with their Path Companion.

Arriving at Camp Nine Ivies, the player is greeted by several sylphs telling that Moonspore Cove has been invaded, and while they were able to escape, their children - "podlings" - will soon be found and killed by the invaders. Since the whole area is full of imperial troops and war machines, the player must sneak his way to the Groove, avoiding contact with the Garleans and ultimately saving a few podlings.

Later on, Minfilia has a new assignment: The player must visit the Ashcrown Consortium in Gridania, as they need help.

Arriving there, he learns about the history of Eorzea's crystal trade and how until recently most of the realm's crystals have been obtained by negotiating with beast tribes. However, ever since the beings known as Primals appeared, the tribes refuse to sell more shards, as they are crucial part of the summoning process, and therefore crafters are facing an increasingly higher increase of demand with not enough supply of crystals.

The player then is directed to an Amalj'aa excavation site to negotiate, where they find an Ashcrown party already engaged in negotiations with the Amalj'aa and the Ixali. Their leader explains that both tribes are on the verge of summoning their "Primals", which, if they are successful, would mean the death of all those in the mesa caves. After either parley or fighting, the tribes are convinced to stop their rituals, however before negotiation can begin about the crystals issues, a strange creature that the sylphs call "Ascian" appears and frightens the remaining beastmen.

Back into Ashcrown Consortium, Sylphs claim they may be able to persuade the Ixal into resuming crystal trade with them, but will need "unaspected crystals" - pure crystals devoid of any elemental aspect, perfect for the Primal summoning rituals. To get them, one must simply travel to the far away land of Mor Dhona and bury a crystal there for a time; it will quickly be drained of their elemental energy by the mysterious force said to slumber there.

Upon returning to the Consortium, the sylphs mention mysterious figures known only as "Paragons," whom they claim were the ones who originally taught the beast tribes how to summon the Primals from the aetherial void.

Back at the Walking Sands, however, the player learns about an imperial message sent to the Eorzean city-states; according to it, the beast tribes are the enemies of Eorzea and mean to summon their "eikons" for their own means, and calls all city states to accept Imperial Rule and fight against the beast tribes, in exchange of protection against the Primals. Minfilia adds that because of their ability to communicate with the tribes, all walkers will be branded by the Empire as heathens.

After a conversation with his/her Path Companion, the player decides to assist Lady Minfilia in her quest to bring the beast tribes to their side, and travels to the Amal'jaa stronghold to try negotiating with the tribe elders.

However, before reaching the center of the stronghold, they are spotted and captured by the Amal'jaa, being put in a cell with several other prisoners. Soon, every captive is led to a large clearing, where the Primal Ifrit is summoned for a "cleansing" ritual - brainwashing via magical blue flames. All the other prisoners are affected by the spell, and are ordered to attack the player. Since they are not enemies, they must not be killed - some can be brought to their senses via parley, others have to be attacked.

Ifrit remains silent during the whole confrontation, but as soon as it ends, he starts making several cryptic questions, concluding with the revelation that the player and companion, too, can summon their own Primal, as well as everyone else with the gift of the Echo, and let the player escape upon promising to never summon one and feigning loyalty to Ifrit.

A strange distress call is caught on the Path Linkpearl, and no one knows who was responsible for that, only their location; The player is then asked to go to the signal origin and search for the responsible.

Reaching camp Nine Ivies, their Path Companion is spotted speaking with a group of Soldiers, who claim to be part of the Ala Mhigan Resistance. It seems that one of the members of the resistance was the deceased brother of the player's Path Companion. The soldier also mentions that one of their scouts is missing and is being chased by the Empire, and the player must rescue him.

Back in the Merchant Wards, a group of members from the Ala Mhigan Resistance is speaking with the Antecedent, preparing a special operation against the Empire. The group is planning to steal one of the empire's airships to drive then away from Ala Mhigo. Since the city state is under heavy guard and such mission would be nigh impossible, the target is the least guarded area of Silvertear Falls in Mor Dhona.

The player agrees to help the resistance and makes his way to camp Revenant's Toll in Mor Dhona, only to find a trio of imperial soldiers attacking the place and being called back to their airship. The player follows the group for a while, until they get reinforcements from one of their heavy magitek machinery, a Imperial Juggernaut.

After defeating them, the player walks until finally reunites with his/her Path Companion, only to find that all resistance members have been slain by a single man - the Imperial Legatus Gaius van Baelsar. He easily knocks out the Path Companion with a shot, but before he is able to kill off the player, Yda, Papalymo, Y'shtola and Thancred arrive to stop him. But Gaius proves too much for the four as calls a blast from the cannons of the Imperial Dreadnaught and disappears in the smoke.

The player wakes up in a cave, quickly noticing he is actually seeing the past. Some children are grouped there, and Garlean Soldiers come in and start uttering strange verses, brainwashing the children into believing the beast tribes of Eorzea and their Primal must be killed.

The player once again collapses and wakes up back in the present, where he speaks with the mysterious traveler from their home city state (either Y'shtola, Thancred or Yda and Papalymo), who warns that the Empire cannot be defeated in their current state, the player must find something much greater if he has any hope of defeating the Garleans and freeing Eorzea from their menace.

Seventh Umbral Era
Fighting against the Garleans, the player encounters another Imperial Legatus named Nael van Darnus who sees the invasion to be for the greater good. However, as the player faces against the Primals themselves whose demise he wanted, Nael's plan is revealed to exceed the intent of the Garlean Empire by Nael's desire to purge Eorzea of its impurities with Dalamud. Though Gaius helps the player to stop the insane general, Nael becomes infused with Dalmund's power and resolves to plunge the world in the Seventh Umbral Era.

Not long after, the companies are able to track down Nael van Darnus's location; the Legatus is seen wandering near the Allagan Ruins in Camp Glory. An attack group is quickly assembled and sent to the region, only to find a patch of floating islands emanating a light similar to the one previously seem on Castrum Novum, the Rivenroad. From the Rivenroad, Nael oversees fiery rocks raining down from Dalamud.

Without any other alternatives to reach the Legatus's, the companies seek Cid for an airship. After a few preparations, Cid offers his personal airship, the Enterprise. However, the airship can only carry a small number of passengers, and as such, only a single group of adventurers are able to fly towards the floating islands for the final confrontation against the Legatus.

After a fierce battle, the party seemingly succeeds in defeating the legatus. However, he stands up and is bathed by Dalamud's light, losing what was left of his mind and becoming a being of pure hatred. The battle starts once again, and the party finally defeats Nael. Following his defeat, the magic glyphs keeping the Rivenroad floating are deactivated, and the island starts falling apart. The group has no means to escape, but soon after Cid Garlond appears and rescues everyone, bringing the group to safety.

The Grand companies celebrate victory with a reunion on Gridania, as Cid assures everyone that Dalamud will no longer crash on Eorzea; however the player wonders if that's true, as there is still a sense of dread about Dalamud.

Louisoix advises the player to take a pilgrimage of the Twelve, on which they encounters Gaius, who warns the player of a XIVth Legion, who still remain loyal to Darnus, despite being seemingly defeated at Rivenroad. He also tells the player of the Legion's movements in Mor Dhona, who are gathering in Castrum Novum for the invasion of Eorzea. With that, he disappears, reminding the player to leave him something worth conquering. Armed with this knowledge, the player alerts Louisoix who passes the information along to the heads of the Alliance.

With Dalamud drawing ever closer, the very nature of Eorzea begins to rapidly change. A mysterious being known as Atomos appears at Aetherial Crystals, spawning powerful monsters from the void, leaving crystals filled with aether. Things take a dramatic turn for the worse when monsters, imperial legionaries and Darnus himself begin to attack the City-States directly. Realizing the final battle is near, the Alliance prepare themselves by calling upon all of those who are still able to bare arms. The Eorzean Alliance will face the Garlean Empire's lead invading force at Carteneau Flats in Mor Dhona, the predicted point of impact for Dalamud.

The battle begins, furious and bloody, with Dalamud just overhead. Neither side steps back from their conviction, until a roar tears across the sky, and a massive pillar falls from Dalamud. The Alliances stares in awe. The final phase of Darnus' Meteor Project is complete, and as the pieces of Dalamud begin to shower Eorzea with flames, they realize the worst is yet to come. From within Dalamud, the elder Primal, Bahamut awakens from his slumber, and begins to bathe the world in fire.

All would seem lost, as a few adventurers (the player & company) watch the world burn around them. A seemingly indifferent meteor approaches, until they are saved by Louisoix, who is attempting to create a shield. Unfortunately, the shield cannot withstand Bahamut, who menacingly approaches Louisoix. In a last ditch effort, he attempts to recreate Dalamud to imprison Bahamut with the power of the Twelve. All is for naught, however, as Bahamut simply breaks free and continues his reign of fire. With his dying breath, the Archon calls upon the power of Althyk to transport the adventurers into a rift of time and space, where they will be untouched by Bahamut's fury, until the time is safe for them to begin their struggle anew.

This is currently the end of the main storyline quests, as of the end of Final Fantasy XIV 1.0.