Final Fantasy XIV: A Realm Reborn – Washed Up

Staelwyrn is up in arms, as his hired hands are nowhere to be found.

Staelwyrn: That sea-sloth Sevrin and his lot─never around when there’s work to be done!
Staelwyrn: I’d sooner hire you for the sake of gettin’ things done, but then the rapscallions would never learn.
Staelwyrn: Round them up and let them know that Staelwyrn would like a word… And don’t take no for an answer!

Wauter: Work? Ha! Can’t work when me hands are full liftin’ this mug. Ye know, I’d wager me last gil ye’d never guess what I’m drinkin’.
Wauter: Well, yer right about the “swill” part. I reckon it might be worth a day o’ doin’ Staelwyrn’s chores if it’ll afford me a taste o’ proper grog.

Sozai Rarzai: (groan) How am I supposed to work on an empty stomach? Go on, have a guess at what I had for breakfast.
Sozai Rarzai: Wha─ Gods, how’d you know!? It’s my breath, ain’t it? It probably smells as wooden as the food tasted… But I know why you’re here. (sigh) I’d just as soon get some real food in me, but I ain’t one to reject a summons from the cap’n.

Eyrimhus: Axes were made for splittin’ skulls, not stumps! You know what I did in my sailin’ days?
Eyrimhus: You bet your bosom I did, lass! Aye, those were the days… (sigh) I reckon now I’ll have to be satisfied takin’ my axe to the trees.

Aylmer: So, Staelwyrn sent you. And what do you reckon I say to that?
Aylmer: Damn right! Didn’t get where I am by takin’ guff from any glorified gardeners! …But I s’pose I could see what he wants to get him off my back.

Sevrin: Aye, I’m Sevrin. You the old man’s errand girl, now?
Sevrin: Tell my dear old captain not to wet his britches. I’ll be along.
Sevrin: Oh, and just so we’re clear─I don’t care for landlubbers. Go find the chocobo you rode in on, and ride on out.

Staelwyrn: You continue to impress, lass. All but Sevrin are accounted for.
Staelwyrn: It’s no fault of yours he squirmed out. I’ve let that worm wriggle through my fingers more times than I can count.
Staelwyrn: But rest assured, the next time I see him, I’ll put him squarely in the dirt, where all such worms belong.

Andromeda Galaxy

220,000 LIGHT YEARS

Andromeda is our BFF galaxy. At 2.5 million light years away, you’d need to line up 12 Milky Ways in a row to stretch from us to Andromeda. If Andromeda were a bit brighter, it would look huge in our night sky, about 5 times bigger than the moon looks. The Universe is expanding, meaning almost all galaxies are moving farther away from all other galaxies — but Andromeda’s proximity to us means gravity is actually pulling it closer to us. About 4.5 billion years from now, the two galaxies will collide. That sounds stressful, but since galaxies are mostly empty space, it will actually be pretty uneventful for us if we’re still here.

Final Fantasy XIV: A Realm Reborn – Eggs over Queasy

Galfrid, chief instructor at the Bannock, wishes you to collect chigoe egg sacs.

Galfrid: Mortimer, injuries to several of my men have left me shorthanded, and I require a capable sort to complete their unfinished duty.
Galfrid: The task is simple: put down as many of the local chigoe population as necessary to acquire three of their egg sacs.
Galfrid: Having done so, you are to deliver them to Monranguin at Gilbert’s Spire. He will answer any queries you might have. Now, I have other business to attend to.

Monranguin: Ah, you must be the adventurer standing in for our injured companions. Terribly unfortunate business, that.
Monranguin: It seems, however, that you had little trouble gathering the egg sacs in their stead. Excellent work. I shall have them sent over to the Trappers’ League immediately.
Monranguin: Lest you wonder, these egg sacs are not destined for the dinner table! Members of the Twin Adder and the Wood Wailers are assisting the League by collecting the samples they need to check for signs of sickness.
Monranguin: The chigoe, you see, is one of the few creatures capable of transmitting the disease known as the Creeping Death. Until relatively recently, any Hyur who contracted this ghastly illness would almost invariably perish.
Monranguin: Indeed, a single outbreak once claimed the lives of a third of the Hyuran population here in Gridania. That was a long time ago, of course. With the medicines available to us now, the Creeping Death is not the killer it once was.
Monranguin: Even so, it is best to halt any new outbreaks before they occur. Thus we gather chigoe eggs on a regular basis in order to assist the Trappers’ League with their ongoing research. Your timely assistance is most appreciated.

History of Our Cosmos – Atoms, Stars, and the Reign of Gravity

Once the first violent fraction of a second was over, the evolution of the universe slowed. A lot. The key expressions for the following development of the cosmos are cooling, expansion and the synthesis of simpler structures to create more complicated ones. About a millionth of a second after the Big Bang, the temperature of the universe decreased to such an extent that the simplest particles started joining to create more complicated particles – the first protons and neutrons came into existence. A few minutes after, these particles started clumping together and the first atomic nuclei saw the light of day. This process is called the nuclear fusion.

The temperature of the cosmos was approximately one billion degrees Celsius back then – still a breath-taking value but ridiculously small compared to the prior values. Just 20 minutes after the Big Bang, the temperature of the universe was no longer high enough to sustain nuclear fusion. The creation of new elements ceased for several million years – until the first stars initiated it again.

When the fusion stopped, three quarters of all matter in the universe formed hydrogen nuclei (the lightest element), the last quarter made up helium nuclei (the second lightest element). However, it took another 380,000 years before electrons bound to them, which flooded the cosmos with the first atoms.

380,000 years after the Big Bang, a new epoch of the universe began. Photons could finally move freely through space-time due to the creation of atoms. But what is more, a seemingly innocent force that was present almost from the very beginning slowly started to gain power – gravity. One of the following chapters is dedicated to this fascinating interaction, for now you only need to know one thing – every single object in the universe is attracted to every single other object, while the amplitude of the force with which they attract is proportional to the square of the distance between the two objects. What does it mean? Simply said, if two objects are one meter apart, the gravitational force between them is four times as great as if they were two meters apart.

The gravitational force, even though it is the weakest of the four fundamental interactions (again, you will have to wait for the following chapter), has become the unquestionable dominant force of the universe. Right after the Big Bang, tiny disproportions in the distribution of matter were produced due to vacuum quantum fluctuations. Imagine spilling a handful of sugar on a paper. It is hugely unlikely that each section of the paper would contain the same number of sugar grains. On the contrary – some spots would contain large clusters of sugar, whereas others would hold no sugar at all. And something similar happened to the early cosmos – some sections of space-time simply contained more energy than other sections.

In places with a higher concentration of energy, more elementary particles, more atomic nuclei and eventually more atoms were created. This was crucial for the following development of the cosmos. Were it not for the early fluctuations causing disproportions in energy density, each bit of the universe would contain an identical amount of matter and gravity would never be able to show itself.

It is as if you tried to move a cube but you would keep pushing all faces with exactly the same force – the cube would stay in place no matter how large the force would be. However, if you applied just a little more force to one of the faces, the cube would start moving in the direction of the force. To some extent, this is what happened in the 380,000 years old universe. The parts of the cosmos with a higher concentration of matter gravitationally affected each other more and began happily attracting – the first nebulae saw the light of day.

Then, these nebulae were becoming denser and denser due to gravity and the temperature in their cores was gradually increasing. After several hundred million years, the temperature in their hearts was so high that nuclear fusion was ignited – the first generation of stars was born. These stars then went on to clump together into enormous formations called galaxies, which exist to this day and often contain up to billions of astral residents.

All that time, however, stars were doing something immensely important – they transformed simpler elements like hydrogen and helium into more complicated ones. The universe beheld elements like carbon, oxygen and iron for the first time. But every star has to die eventually. The early stars were usually gigantic and ended their lives in massive explosions, during which they ejected an enormous amount of material into the surrounding space.

The material then went on to create the next generation of nebulae and the entire process repeated – the nebulae formed new stars which in turn built more and more complicated elements. These were once again expelled into the adjacent vacuum. However, some of the elements started forming new structures, which had never existed before, called planets – smaller cosmic objects in which nuclear fusion is not ignited. Planets usually revolve around a parent star. Such a star was essential for the early planets, since it supplied them with necessary energy, which allowed various chemical reactions to occur. These reactions then enabled the formation of the first amino acids. Then, after many years of effort, at least one of the planets created the most complicated known entity in the whole universe – life.

Final Fantasy XIV: A Realm Reborn – Step Nine

Cicidoa needs a reliable adventurer to deliver a gift to the Coffer & Coffin.

Cicidoa: You’re an adventurer, yes? If you’re not otherwise occupied, I’ve a favor to ask. I’ve resolved to repay a debt of gratitude, which I owe to the owner of the Coffer & Coffin.
Cicidoa: For this purpose, I’ve purchased from the Royal Plantations a prodigiously plump pumpkin─a particularly popular piece of produce.
Cicidoa: Alas, I cannot part this place to procure and proffer the pumpkin. You see, the scheduled shipment from the Nanawa Mines, for which I wait, is late.
Cicidoa: I would prevail upon you to pick up the pumpkin in my stead, and see it safely to the Coffer & Coffin. Present this receipt of purchase to Gagari at the Royal Plantations, and she will yield it to you.
Cicidoa: I apologize for asking you to attend to this time-consuming task, but I truly appreciate your assistance!

Gagari: If Cicidoa doesn’t come calling soon, this spectacular specimen shall sadly be past its prime…
Gagari: Oh, so you’re to deliver this decadent delight? I can say with confidence that any gourmand would be grateful for such a grand gift.
Gagari: Here is the pumpkin. I hope it meets with Roger’s approval.
Gagari: Fresh produce is somewhat scarce in these parts, and as such we are always deluged with demand.
Gagari: You know the way to the Coffer & Coffin, correct? It is beyond the bridge to the northwest. Look for a place where local laborers lounge.

Roger: Drink fer ye, lassie? Ye won’t get better ale or spirits fer yer coin than at me place.
Roger: What’s that? Wee Cicidoa asked ye to bring this here to me? Ha! Heh, so even that foul-mouthed drunk knows the meanin’ o’ remorse. Reckon this is fer the time I carried his drink-sodden arse back home.
Roger: But hells, an honest-to-gods pumpkin from the Royal Plantations! I can’t wait to see what the cooks’ll do with her.
Roger: The lads here scoff down beastly amounts o’ meat, an’ it’s startin’ to tell on their health. It’ll be good to get more vegetables in their bellies─assumin’ I can get the stubborn bastards to try somethin’ new. Thanks fer the help, lassie!