[Meinrad]

hey guys. just so everyone knows ahead of time there will be *SPOILERS* in this thread.

i was into FFXI way back during beta and a few months into its NA release. but slowly but surely i fell out of it and now i want to get back in the game soon. but again im faced with the seemingly hopeless decision of what race? what job? what server? what to wear? and of course, what nation do i start in?

during beta and on i was a warrior elvaan hailing from San D'Oria, of course. but now ive been thinking of mixing up the experience as a taru taru, but i dont know where. mission wise, i got right up to before the battle with the shadow lord in the game (i know its awful, so close yet i never got it). well now that old account is deleted, and idk where to go in my new one.

so. what this is boiling down to is that if anyone could add to this, i want to create a general description of the general storyline of the three nations.

for instance i know that san d'oria has something to do with the reappearance of a travelling adventurer. and i also know that bastok has something to do with the wandering galkan dark night Zeid. and i also know that windurst deals with the great Star Sybil and wondrous magic. but i barely know anything so if anyone could maybe show me a bigger picture that would be great. thanks

[Spazz]

You can read the entire FFXI History and Story here: http://www.shadow-ffxi.com/HistoryofVanadiel/

[neighbortaru]

also two big sticky threads on the main forum to discuss the story and history site.

[Icemage]

Bear in mind that you can (with some penalties, discussed below) change nations whenever you like.

Changing your allegiance in FFXI requires that you speak to a specific NPC in each city, then paying a fee of anywhere from 4,000 gil to 20,000 gil to change your allegiance to that city. The fee reflects the current conquest ratings of the city you are emigrating from, and the city you are emigrating to. The higher in conquest your old city is, the less you will be charged. The higher in conquest your new city is, the more you will be charged. Thus, going from the #1 city to the #3 city costs only 4,000 gil, but going in the opposite direction, from #3 to #1, costs 20,000 gil.

In addition to the fee, the following conditions apply to nation switching:

- You can not switch nations if you have a currently open mission with your current city. That means you need to finish any active city missions before you will be allowed to switch.

- Additionally, you can not switch nations if you have completed Mission 11, but have not completed Mission 12 (for rank 6), in any city.

- Any time you change allegiances, all record of your Supply quests to various outposts will be permanently wiped, which means you lose any and all outpost teleportation services you previously enjoyed. This is a major impediment if you've spent a lot of time visiting outposts, since you'll have to start all over and wait for each region to be taken by your nation again (if ever).

- You lose access to all of your accumulated conquest points, rank, and mission status for a given city when you switch, but they are not really "gone" the way outposts are. If you are San d'Orian at Rank 4 with mission 9 complete and have 30,000 conquest points, then switch to Bastok, your Conquest points will drop to 0, you will start over at Bastok mission 1, rank 1. If at some point you decide to come back to San d'Oria, you will get your 30,000 San d'Orian conquest points back, along with your rank 4 status and with mission 9 complete for San d'Oria.

---

In addition to the city missions, there is a story arc for each expansion:

Rise of the Zilart tells the story of the lost Zilart civilization.

Chains of Promathia tells the story of sleeping Twilight God, Promathia.

Treasures of Aht Urghan tells the story of the eastern empire of Aht Urghan.

These missions are independent of your city affiliation (though you must have reached at least Rank 6 in at least one city to begin the Zilart missions).


Icemage