Final Day, Day 1 – The fact we got to do the entirety of the Endwalker expansion together. From arriving in Old Sharlyean, all the way to the ends of reality. We are very much looking forward to doing the same thing for Dawntrail and beyond.
… I will certainly miss her being ‘The Little One,’ but she’ll always be that to me.
Day 2 – The most memorable day of the entirety of Endwalker: Sirena and I’s Bonding Ceremony. ♥
Having everyone there and then everyone coming to the after party with a lot of surprise pop-ins from friends across the entire North America and even European Data Centers, this was just the absolute most perfect day.
Day 3 – Never in a million years upon founding Eorzea Cartographers would I ever have been an actual Free Company director. I mostly created the Free Company to coincide with all of the map making projects that I was taking on during that tenure of my adventures, but then these two cats came along and melted themselves into my heart.
Sirena and Juli made EOCA from just a house to a home, and then shortly thereafter Ellany came along as well to make it even more of one. Even if I tend to be running around with Aikirees a bit of the time, hearing what they’re up to is rather heartwarming; then there’s the times where even we’re able to partake too and it’s a really fun time.
I’m really grateful they wanted to be here, and once we all get established in Tural, we’ll be able to get back to our adventures together again.
Day 4 goes to the evening we all got together and took Sirena through the NieR raids together for her first time doing them! I sat this one out and chatted with the folks who either didn’t want to partake or came a bit later and were wanting to show their support. Aikirees went instead and both the friends who went in and us who sat out had a really gosh darn good, fun, and memorable evening together!
Day 5 – The entirety of the Frendedex. Initially I was going to put these all separate, but I would have had to start at 30 days instead of 20 to do so. The sheer amount of folks, friends, and memories I made across the entirety of the group we ended up calling the Frendedex is just astronomically heartwarming. Just about everyone we all met was through Mastodon itself as well, and all the things that we did and I know still continue to happen, is just so wonderful.
Generally early on, they were small social gatherings just to shoot the breeze and see how everyone was doing, but not long they began to include running content and helping folks out do certain objectives. Treasure Maps being one that has been done quite a few times before and after my absence.
As we kept having these events, social or content-based, the number of folks kept getting bigger and bigger as word started to spread about the Frendedex’s existence across the Fediverse and beyond. The ones I mostly assembled were on the social-side to just gather and relax/chat about anything really. Sometimes it’s just nice to sit with a bunch of friends after a long week and just talk about things, and the subject matter widely ranged far beyond the scope of Final Fantasy XIV! It was really neat to hear what someone was doing outside the world we all have come to partake in together.
After a while, we even expanded to include the European Data Centers, and we spent the day over there having a very wonderful time with all of our friends that primarily played over there. There are countless memories and moments from all of these times we gathered that are so very cherished. What we accomplished throughout 2023 was nothing less that phenomenal.
The Frendedex has to be one of the biggest highlights of Endwalker and just Final Fantasy XIV in general in terms of all the things we did and friends we made a long the way. All the other events that spun-off from the initial ones was just as heartwarming to see and hear about as well.
So many friends, memories, and moments made during it all. I really do miss everyone, and I’m hoping once all the Dawntrail dust settles, we’ll be able to see everyone once again shortly thereafter.
Even if it’s just around a small firepit to catch up and watch the stars.
Day 6 – I recently reminisced about this earlier in regards to Bahamut Day, so I won’t repeat myself a lot. This day I will absolutely never forget. The first big event I ever put together to take on all 13 Coils of Bahamut on Saturday morning with a bunch of friends that I had made on Mastodon was such a blast, and led to many many more gatherings with them and so many more friends we made along the way thereafter.
I could emotionally gush about that day until the end of days, and I still want to try and organize a second one someday down the road for more folks who have never done the Coils.
Day 7 goes to the first time we visited Azelma’s place when she was still on Diabolos on a Friday evening. We had finished our evening up pretty early, so decided to hop over to Crystal and visit her place. When we got there, she was out and about but as soon as she realized we were there, she arrived momentarily later.
We had an absolute blast of a wonderful time talking about a whole lot of things, one being music and swapping some artists to listen to. We ended up spending quite the time there, I think it was at least 2.5 hours or more before we all were just so exhausted.
Since then, we’ve had a lot of wonderful moments together, whether it was taking on some battles or chatting it up with the group of us, it has always been a really great time when she’s around.
Day 8 – I’ve never forgotten the evening that Vysk and I spent together for Valentines Day in 2023. Roughly a couple of months after joining Mastodon in late 2022, a little circle of friends started to form and Vysk was one of the first I met over there. He asked if I wanted to do something for the Valentine’s, which was also tied to the currently running Valentione’s Event, and I was delighted to accept.
The evening was so wonderful, and he was such a gentleman through the entirety of it. We did the 2-person maze challenge together that was part of said event, some stargazing in a couple of places, and ended the night chatting at his place. It was certainly a magical night, and it was just the beginning of a lot of wonderful times & memories ahead with all of the folks we were meeting over at Mastodon.
Day 9’s goes to a Burgundy Room event: Burgundy Gives Back. Out of all the shows that I participated in before placing my Burgundy dress into the Archives, this was one of the most stellar events that we planned. This was a 12 hour marathon consisting of bards, dancers, DJ’s, and live-chats all for donating to the Trans Lifeline. We ended up raising over $3,000.00 for the organization, and it ended up being one amazing time through it all.
While I wasn’t able to be there the entire time due to other obligations, once we got there it was such a fun and very long night. Some old friends from the Adamantoise Alliance even paid a visit so even got to catch up and chat with them as well.
Day 10 – Esprit’s Halloween (2022). This was the last performance I was able to make of theirs before their self destruction the following year. The things they did in this show were mind blowing. The trickery of using the backdrop to have people move in and out of the stage area was so darn clever!
Every single one of their performances for this show were some of the very best I have ever seen in all of my time seeing these. They kept raising the bar and this was pretty high up there. A lot of the tunes were very memorable like the Ghostbusters Theme or This is Halloween. They even did a Five Nights at Freddy’s one with one of the dancers even dressing up as Markiplier to open it with.
Even with this being the last one I ever saw them do, it was still very wonderful to see everyone one last time together on stage like this; even with it being a smidgen bittersweet.
Day 11 – A friend of our friend who has the Silent Hill 2 themed Private Chambers invited a lot of us to her Birthday Slumber Party that was being held at their Free Company Estate. We we’re able to go and celebrate with her, and it turned into such a fun night with everyone!
Day 12 – Before my feelings towards all of this shifted, way back in 2020 when I saw my first bard troupe perform, I was very fascinated by it. Aikirees and I would always stop in towns just in case there was someone playing and then stick around for a moment or so just to listen. Usually was a very nice way to end an evening of adventuring.
There was one group that decided to follow us on Twitter (before our departure from that platform), and we did the same. Their name was Forty Forties PAPOTTE and they are a group that performs specifically Final Fantasy music. Since they were based on the Japanese Data Center, it was nil impossible for us to see a show, until several years later they popped up across all of them and performed around the world.
Aikirees and I managed to catch their show on Primal one night and I was so happy we were finally able to!
Day 13 – Once Data Center Travel was available, we spent an evening hopping around trying to say hi to some of our friends on Primal and Crystal. While we didn’t get to see anyone, we did pay visits to their abodes. This one, in particular, was a friend we made over on Crystal and she made her private chambers into that of the hotel room from Silent Hill 2, and it is incredibly well done!
We have had a chance to go back and see its progress much later on, but not since and there has been some turbulence between us that hasn’t helped either. Perchance one day we might be able to catch back up.
Day 14 – Prior to founding EOCA, we both were in another Free Company on another server. The name of that FC is Risen Ashes, and we made a lot of friends there for in which a few we still keep in touch (or try to rather). Thanks to this Free Company, I was able to be introduced to the Burgundy Room, which spawned off to meet so so many wonderful folks that I ended up becoming friends with over the years.
EOCA would not be EOCA it it wasn’t for Risen Ashes, and so one evening we finally were able to meet up with our old Free Company leader and catch up about what’s been going on. Haven’t really had a moment to head back to chat, but perhaps one day down the road.
Day 15 – We were so excited to see that Hildibrand Manderville had finally made his grand return, that we had to dress up for the occasion. He was sorely missed during Shadowbrringers, so him coming back during Endwalker was a very ecstatically happy warm welcome.
Day 16: Esprit Presents: The Flower Festival. The decor for this show was phenomenal, and the songs were all just so beautifully choreographed together. Was also really lovely seeing other old friends I hadn’t gotten the chance to see in a long while either.
If I recall, this was the one I was able to hang-back for a spell after the show and chat with a few of them too. All in all, it was a very memorable evening for certain.
Day 17’s – The day Eorzea Cartographers got the HQ house. We scoured the plots right after Empyreum was opened up to the public to pick out the perfect place for our Free Company’s new home. We finally found one, put in to the housing lottery and when it came up, we had our new place!
Was a really and truly exciting moment; from there, we spent a lot of time planning the entirety of it, gathering & crafting as much as we could do, and then placing all of that hard work. It took a few months of on and off working on it, but it paid off in spades at the end.
Highly doubt we’ll ever move HQ, as it’s just become such a part of EOCA as the name itself.
For Day 18, the last day of the original Cape Westwind Trial, Aikirees and I paid our respects to it one last time.
The reasoning as to why this was a memorable moment is before this patch, it was an 8-player trial and the first one everyone encounters during the Main Scenario Quest. It was such an easy trial that it got joked and meme’d to pieces. Was always such a hoot seeing a couple of sprouts with us and a few of us talking it up like it was some really difficult fight about to beheld and then it ending in literal minutes.
The best one I ever did was someone literally put placement markers on the ground, something one would mostly do during an extreme trial or a savage run. It was great, and a lot of fun silly memories taking this poor feller on as we all kept forging ahead.
Day 19, I chose the first Esprit performance I got the chance to see, MacroCosmos. Esprit and I had an interesting history, as a lot of people that were former Burgundy Troupe members splintered off to create Tech Step and then Esprit shortly thereafter Tech Step severely self-destructed. It wasn’t… pretty to say the least and I had to watch as a bunch of friends turned to enemies.
Anyway… – finally being able to see old friends perform again got me all excited as I hadn’t seen a lot of these folks since the fallout. The show was absolutely amazing and seeing what everyone came up with for their numbers all within the game’s parameters is always such a treat!
Thankfully, before Esprit’s ultimate ending, I did manage to see a couple more of their performances, and they kept getting better and better along the way.
I did this for the countdown to Endwalker way back when, and want to do it again for leading up to Dawntrail. I have picked out 20 of the most memorable moments from all of Endwalker and chronologically organized most of these. The last 5 or so are out of order, but are pretty important ones of the bunch. Some of these are retroactively posted, so I added the tag 20tillDawn to help with that.
With that, for Day 20, it was the first event I went to in Endwalker: Stellazzio Presents, The Henderson Horror Hall. Stellazzio Virtual Theater put on some of the most stellar shows, and this was no exception. The acting, the voiced dialog, the way the scenes changed and the great use of in-game practical effects along with the stage hands really brought this whole thing to life!
I was so blown away by this show that I had really wished I didn’t miss any of their previous ones as this was their absolute last one they ever did. There have been a few theaters that have appeared as spiritual successors, like the Firebird Theater, but never got a chance to see any of those yet. This was also prior to Datacenter travel, so another of the Kosmikros clan went in our steed.