Warding scale is an alchemical object in Final Fantasy XIV: Endwalker made from dragon scales and other components that have been imbued through Hannish alchemy practiced in Thavnair. It provides its wielder a barrier, which protects them from primal tempering, like those who wield the Echo, as well as other aetherial imbalances, like the corruptive influence of the Darkness in the Thirteenth.
History[]
Final Fantasy XIV: Endwalker[]
When the Telophoroi emerged and mysterious towers appeared all around the Source, which tempered anyone who ventured close, the satrap of Radz-at-Han ordered its alchemists to develop means to protect the people from tempering. The alchemists at the Great Work, under Nidhana, eagerly got to work. She sent a request of assistance to Krile Baldesion, in which she hoped the renowned primal slayer, the Warrior of Light, who was naturally immune to tempering, would provide them insight on how their blessing of Light worked, in hope that knowledge would help them in their research.
The Warrior of Light, Estinien Varlineau, Thancred Waters, and Urianger Augurelt answered the request, and after making contact with the alchemists, they found themselves fast asleep, but roused when Varshahn brought them more scales. Estinien recognized them as dragon scales, and he, too, was experimented on. Nidhana and the Warrior did their own research, leading into a the completion of a warding scale. Nidhana wanted to test it by traveling close to the Tower of Zot, which tempered anyone nearby. She and the Warrior approached the tower, and the scale worked; Nidhana was not tempered. When she got to the entrance, she was pulled into the tower and lost the scale, becoming trapped and tempered like so many others before her. The Warrior withdrew after encountering Fandaniel, the Telophoroi mastermind bent on bringing back the Final Days.
The remaining alchemists vowed to make as many warding scales as they could, while the Warrior and their companions were invited to meet with the satrap, Vrtra of the First Brood, and the one who had provided the dragon scales for the alchemists. He requested their aid in assaulting the Tower of Zot, and if they succeeded, Radz-at-Han would provide them with enough warding scales to both the Grand Company of Eorzea and Far Eastern Alliance. He would also provide them with warding scales for the assault.
The members of the Scions of the Seventh Dawn destroyed the tower and freed everybody inside. Vrtra provided them with many crates of warding scales in gratitude.
The warding scales would be used by the Ilsabard contingent in their mission to Garlemald, which culminated in the assault of the Tower of Babil. After Anima's defeat, the towers disappeared, freeing the world from the danger of tempering.
After the Final Days were averted, Y'shtola Rhul tested the warding scales to see if they could provide protection against the corruptive influence of the Thirteenth, turned into a void through primordial darkness. She sent two nixxies, one with a scale and one without, through a planar fissure. When they came back, the nixxie with the scale was unharmed, but the one without had been corrupted by Darkness, and was about to turn into a voidsent. Even though the warding scale provided adequate protection, it had degraded. She gave the scales to Garlond Ironworks to strengthen them, and these upgraded scales would then be used by Y'shtola, Estinien, and Varshahn as they traveled to the Thirteenth with the Warrior of Light to search for Vrtra's sister, Azdaja.
Final Fantasy XIV: Dawntrail[]
The warding scales found use in the Ninth, when the Endless scientist Calyx used that world's lightning-aspected aether and the fear of death of Alexandrians to summon a primal based on a concept, Necron. To fight it, Alphinaud and Alisaie Leveilleur gave Wuk Lamat and Sphene Alexandros XIV their own warding scales to protect them from the primal's tempering.