Excerpt from ‘Records on the Traverse of Dalamud’s Ruins – A Handbook for Scholars of Allag’ by Archon Niniri Niri.
It was at the zenith of ancient Allag, during the second reign of Xande, the revived Emperor, that the elder primal Bahamut was captured and ensorcelled within a colossal metal sphere containing vast apparatus aimed at imprisoning the primal and draining its power. This sphere would later go on to gain the name Dalamud, likely a derivation of Bahamut’s own name by later peoples, and was intended to generate power enough not only to sustain the Empire, but to bring destruction upon it by the madness-invoked apocalyptic designs of the Emperor. The Warrior of Light, in conjunction with the Scions of the Seventh Dawn and other adventurers explored the ruins produced by the fall of Dalamud in response to a loud roar emitting from them, eliciting fears that the Elder Primal’s threat may yet remain. This work is produced using testimony from these groups, as well as records volunteered by the Garlond Ironworks and recovered from the XIVth and VIIth legions of Garlemald.
The Floating Pass and Golem Trail
The Second Coil of Dalamud landed in the Black Shroud and was, in significant part, above ground. Those who approached the ruins did so via a series of floating rocking, leading up to a colossal chunk of the moon. The rocks were likely suspended by the aetheric imbalance wrought by the fall of the moon.
The Scar’s Edge
This section of Dalamud proper was accessed via a large stone platform suspended over the colossal chasm surrounding the ruins. Scar’s Edge was riddled with floral growths, produced by the local seedkin. The name of Scar’s Edge was a reference to the jagged opening in Dalamud’s flank through which the teams accessed the moon’s ruins.
The Breached Hull
The fragment itself was not entered by any formal entrance, but instead a ragged tear in the structure which opened into a shallow corridor barricaded by an internal bulkhead.
The Incubator Transport
The transport that took the explorers deeper into the shard of Dalamud was intended originally as an elevator providing access and transport to the various racks of chimerical incubators, each loaded with the dread horrors of Allag.
The Monitoring Station, Bioweapon Storage & Deployment
This area was a wide circular platform positioned beneath a large containment cell, which stored the terrifying lamia Melusine at the time of Dalamud’s fall. This was likely where the chimera were stored, monitored and, on the adjoining platform, deployed against the foes of Allag. This deployment was likely achieved via a teleporter found on the deployment platform. Again, the aetheric corruption and gravitic force of Dalamud wrought havoc on gravity here, with various pieces of scrap and chimera pods floating through the area.
The Lower & Main Decks
Once more the parties plumbing Dalamud’s depths found themselves within a Ragnarok-class internment hulk, the grand prison ships of the false moon. The first part of the hulk accessed was the lower decks, a pair of parallel corridors that were linked to other areas of the ship by classical Allagan jump-pads. Above these decks were the main decks, small cloisters that could be used to access the core of the ship.
The Central Bow
A sizeable platform surrounded by a large mechanical ring glowing with energy, the function of this room is unclear but it may simply have been a structural element of the ship.
The Holocharts
As those who sought to vanquish the dread wyrm Bahamut reached the depths of this shard of Dalamud they found a most surprising sight. A device able to produce holographic renderings of entire regions was used by the twisted Nael van Darnus to reproduce an area known in those few texts that speak of it as the Rivenroad, a cluster of Eorzean earth and Allagan technology floating in the air which was the site of Nael van Darnus’ final stand years prior. One might suggest that this was used in the past as a navigational device, able to produce representations of areas, perhaps by use of memory if the fevered production of Nael’s mind was anything to go by.
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