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chillyfeez

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Making sense of the story
« on: June 03, 2015, 11:14:36 AM »
So I've been thinking about some of the nuances of the story lately... As I am working on a sequel, some of this is actually kind of important to what I'm doing, but also it's just fun to geek out and ask the questions nobody's asking because it involves reading into the story more than a normal person ever would.

So...

What's the deal with Golbez's backstory?
This thought was kind of inspired by what Pinkpuff and Grimoire were just discussing on the Unprecedented Crisis thread.
So, OK, I know Square established later that his mind was initially affected by Zemus when his parents died, but... Where did he go? How is it that he was able to work on becoming a super powerful sorcerer and a general of all of earth's evil over a period of seventeen years or so without anybody noticing? And he started out as just a kid. So did he just sit in a cave somewhere working on his dark magic and just stewing in his evil broth for a decade or so?

What's the significance of Eblan?
Out of all the societies sieged by Golbez's forces, they seem least likely to offer any real resistance in the early stages of his plot - they have no crystal, and are very isolated from the rest of civilization - yet they're the only one that is already completely obliterated when you first get there, and presumably for some time before the beginning of the game. I guess they were maybe viewed as a threat because of their proximity to Bab-il? But that doesn't add up, because when they were forced out of their stronghold, they went into hiding closer to the tower's entrance! Furthermore, threat my foot! They don't stand a chance against Rubicante, and the king and queen are abducted and turned into Lugae's science experiments.

And how about Lugae?
He's one of only two doctors ever seen in the game... How did he learn his trade? He's another one who it doesn't seem likely he could build all of that stuff up without anybody noticing. And where did he come from? He's not (originally) a monster, he's a human. So what kingdom do we presume he hails from? Maybe Troia, and that's how he learned to be a doctor?

How about KluYa?
If I have this story straight, he came to earth to help this savage little planet evolve and develop technology so that it could eventually be a place inhabitable by both earthlings and lunarians. And he's Cecil and Golbez's dad. So... Either Lunarians live REALLY LONG lives, or earthly civilization is only a few decades old.


Anyway, what are your thoughts?

Any other poorly a explained plot points you can think of? I'm sure there are lots...
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Grimoire LD

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Re: Making sense of the story
« Reply #1 on: June 03, 2015, 12:42:01 PM »
Quote from: chillyfeez on June 03, 2015, 11:14:36 AM
So I've been thinking about some of the nuances of the story lately... As I am working on a sequel, some of this is actually kind of important to what I'm doing, but also it's just fun to geek out and ask the questions nobody's asking because it involves reading into the story more than a normal person ever would.

So...

What's the deal with Golbez's backstory?
This thought was kind of inspired by what Pinkpuff and Grimoire were just discussing on the Unprecedented Crisis thread.
So, OK, I know Square established later that his mind was initially affected by Zemus when his parents died, but... Where did he go? How is it that he was able to work on becoming a super powerful sorcerer and a general of all of earth's evil over a period of seventeen years or so without anybody noticing? And he started out as just a kid. So did he just sit in a cave somewhere working on his dark magic and just stewing in his evil broth for a decade or so?

Of special note it seems that KluYa lived close to the village of Mist and it may have been those residents that actually had him killed (all that is mentioned is that a rival clan of magic users that disagreed with KluYa's teachings on using magic peacefully, but instead wanted to use magic to conquer killed him). In that respect it would make sense that Golbez would strike swiftly at those that killed his father.

It's fan speculated that Zemus sent the Four Fiends to watch over and guide the young Theodor into the dark sorcerer he eventually becomes since they do say that "Master Zemus" revived them (not unlike Chaos, now that I think about it) hinting that Zemus is held in great esteem by them. Their original title may also be a hint to their celestial origins "Four Heavenly Kings". From there time worked its way on Theodor that the constant pressuring voices from Zemus he renamed himself Golbez (mistranslation, blah, blah we all know the rest).

It is likely he took up residence in the Tower of Babil, which was likely of Lunarian creation before humans had a written history (or had evolved significantly enough) and used that as an anchoring point to keep the moon stabilized in orbit. The Lunarians had a dangerous weapon on the moon with them called the Giant of Babil that... for some reason could be called with interplanetary elevator down to the Tower of Babil (may have been originally purposed for the mass movement of the Lunarians down to the Blue Planet) that Zemus wished to use to wipe out the humans but FuSoYa stopped him and sealed him in a deep sleep.

I do feel though that the effects of Zemus' growing power was causing previously peaceful monsters to become restless and lash out, many not necessarily under the direct control of Golbez.

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What's the significance of Eblan?
Out of all the societies sieged by Golbez's forces, they seem least likely to offer any real resistance in the early stages of his plot - they have no crystal, and are very isolated from the rest of civilization - yet they're the only one that is already completely obliterated when you first get there, and presumably for some time before the beginning of the game. I guess they were maybe viewed as a threat because of their proximity to Bab-il? But that doesn't add up, because when they were forced out of their stronghold, they went into hiding closer to the tower's entrance! Furthermore, threat my foot! They don't stand a chance against Rubicante, and the king and queen are abducted and turned into Lugae's science experiments.

I think you hit the nail on the head. If Golbez is to start conquering the world his first step should be his next door neighbor. Regardless of the threat they may pose, it likely seemed like a good testing ground to see if his forces were ready for domination (likely if something should go amiss with the Baron takeover plan) It is also owing to their isolation why they were completely destroyed, there would be no outside interference. I do not think Golbez or Rubicante anticipated that they would be able to maintain as much of a presence as they ended up doing, when a cave that burrowed into Babil itself was built.

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And how about Lugae?
He's one of only two doctors ever seen in the game... How did he learn his trade? He's another one who it doesn't seem likely he could build all of that stuff up without anybody noticing. And where did he come from? He's not (originally) a monster, he's a human. So what kingdom do we presume he hails from? Maybe Troia, and that's how he learned to be a doctor?

He seems familiar with Cecil and Kain, which leads me to think he may have been working out of Baron for some time. I believe the "Dr" epithet is probably just another name for a doctor of science, because he's clearly a scientist of some sort and not a medical doctor. It is also interesting that Dr. Lugae in the DS remake mentions that he was made "Golbez's chief strategist". In The After Years as well Golbez laments that Lugae had so much potential and how his fate would have turned out had he taken another path. This in itself leads to another question, we know that Golbez has humans working alongside his monsters, whether it be knights with flame magic, dark knights, girls wielding both swords and magic, so clearly he is attracting more than just your typical evil monsters to his side, but also humans of various professions.

I hold that Lugae was probably some sort of scientist working out of Baron who was enticed by Golbez to join him on his quest and that he was Golbez's chief strategist it goes to show how much trust was placed in him.

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How about KluYa?
If I have this story straight, he came to earth to help this savage little planet evolve and develop technology so that it could eventually be a place inhabitable by both earthlings and lunarians. And he's Cecil and Golbez's dad. So... Either Lunarians live REALLY LONG lives, or earthly civilization is only a few decades old.

Oh he's old. Really old. The Lunar Whale is just a legend by the time of FFIV, but it was the vehicle that KluYa used to get here. FuSoYa is similarly old as he was the one to seal Zemus in a long removed time. KluYa did not only develop technology, but also the basic arts of magic (seeming to retcon the God of Magic, Minwu out of the game's lore. It is a little difficult to say, but the original game itself did mention that KluYa taught men magic) to the people of the Blue Planet. According to the Scenario Book, the civilization of FFIV is around 800 years old because the world itself is "fairly new".

It may also be that according to the Scenario Book magic had two phases. The first was initiated by the Sage Minwu and the second was where magic learning began "anew". Since the old methods no longer worked that took place anywhere from 100-150 years ago and may be the time that KluYa started to teach magic in Myisida. It seems the best way to reconcile the two almost contradictory set ups of who taught who magic.

Another thing I really like about the Scenario Book is that it says that Cid is the pure brain behind the airship, using Baronian Legend (possibly books left behind by KluYa from an earlier time?) he deciphered ancient manuscripts and took the original flotation theory and made it into an aviation theory.

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Anyway, what are your thoughts?

Any other poorly a explained plot points you can think of? I'm sure there are lots...

Hmm... Rydia is far from the "Last Summoner" as the Summoners in the Feymarch itself would attest. Plus there's an old man in the Village of Mist who says "we" in regards to Summoners when referring to where the Summons come from.

Why did Leviathan attack the boat on the way to Baron and kill everyone on board (that wasn't a main character?) that is never adequately explained or brought up again.

That's all that comes to mind at the moment. Great topic idea though!
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Bahamut ZERO

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Re: Making sense of the story
« Reply #2 on: June 03, 2015, 01:41:11 PM »
What's the deal with Golbez's backstory?
This thought was kind of inspired by what Pinkpuff and Grimoire were just discussing on the Unprecedented Crisis thread.
So, OK, I know Square established later that his mind was initially affected by Zemus when his parents died, but... Where did he go? How is it that he was able to work on becoming a super powerful sorcerer and a general of all of earth's evil over a period of seventeen years or so without anybody noticing? And he started out as just a kid. So did he just sit in a cave somewhere working on his dark magic and just stewing in his evil broth for a decade or so?

Hmm, from what I vaguely remember from the little extra part in FFIVDS with Golbez's backstory, I think Zemus starts messing with his head as a child. I also think he might have killed his parents, and afterwards leaves baby Cecil at the castle so he wouldn't harm him next.

If that being the case, I could picture Golbez trying to stay out of sight, vainly wrestling control from Zemus before succumbing to it. I could also picture his magical abilities being mostly Zemus's power amplifying Golbez's own dark power, like how Kain seemed stronger when under Golbez's control.


What's the significance of Eblan?
Out of all the societies sieged by Golbez's forces, they seem least likely to offer any real resistance in the early stages of his plot - they have no crystal, and are very isolated from the rest of civilization - yet they're the only one that is already completely obliterated when you first get there, and presumably for some time before the beginning of the game. I guess they were maybe viewed as a threat because of their proximity to Bab-il? But that doesn't add up, because when they were forced out of their stronghold, they went into hiding closer to the tower's entrance! Furthermore, threat my foot! They don't stand a chance against Rubicante, and the king and queen are abducted and turned into Lugae's science experiments.

I've... never stopped to think about Eblan's signifigance before, and you raise some interesting questions. The first time I played through FF4 I thought Eblan was some old ruined kingdom from yesteryear until coming across them later on.  Perhaps they were simply a victim of poor location (though as you said, they end up closer the Tower), or for thier occupations. Perhaps Golbez/Zemus wasn't too keen of having a kingdom of sneaky ninjas a few miles away from thier stash of Crystals, and just simply failed to kill them (like they escaped to the caves through a hidden passageway in the castle)?


And how about Lugae?
He's one of only two doctors ever seen in the game... How did he learn his trade? He's another one who it doesn't seem likely he could build all of that stuff up without anybody noticing. And where did he come from? He's not (originally) a monster, he's a human. So what kingdom do we presume he hails from? Maybe Troia, and that's how he learned to be a doctor?


Another interesting point, seeing as besides the old couple in Kaipo, the Troia doctor and Lugae are the pnly doctors in the game. Any other time the game tries to assert that white mages are to go-to for health care. It's like the law of the land until you meet the doctor in Troia.  Perhaps Lugae came from Agart, where seemingly all the astronomers/scholars preside? Playing on SNES as a kid I recall thinking Rydia somehow knew him in some way, based on the way the dialogue was laid out. But then again she could have heard about him from Asura and Leviathan.

At the same time, I picture him being more of a mad scientist moreso than a doctor. Like Einstien's evil twin brother. 


As for KluYa - based on the amount of technology in certain areas, yet none whatsever in others, it feels to me like perhaps he had been there for a few decades, 40-60 years, maybe had started intergrating Lunarian technology on Earth, but then died/was killed after settling down and raising a family. FuSoYa acts like Lunarians can live very long lifespans on the moon, so perhaps KluYa had a slower rate of againg compared to humans?

Here a few interesting things I've thought about over the years or while working on my project:


How is it that Golbez able to control and command the Four Fiends? I'd understand it if he had thier crystals, but Milon of Earth is the first Fiend he sends after you, but he doesn't have the Earth crystal until Cecil hands it over to him in the Tower of Zot. Were they all under Zeemus's control as well?


The old blacksmith in the underground - How did he get in the Underground? Being an old human (and the only one down there besides Lugae) I can't quite grasp how he could have ended up there, unless there used to be a human settlement neaby that was wiped out by monsters.


Finding Rosa sick in Kaipo - First off, how in the world does she beat you to Kaipo? She would've had to run like an Amazon through the fresh mountain ridge that Titan created. And secondly, how is it that this woman in her battle bikini succumbs to heat stroke (more or less), yet the guy wearing heavy black armor carries a small child across the desert in the blazing heat, fights off four armed guards in the middle of the night, and is just fine after a nap?


The hovercraft - Why is there only one of these things in the world? It's like before settling down, KluYa was traveling the world, teaching different kinds of technologic know-how to different areas.


The Dark Crystals - Now, the Light Crystals corresponded to an element, yet the Dark Crystals were just... Dark. I've always wondered what they would correspond to; perhaps other elements, or four of the seven deadly sins (Lust, Greed, etc)


the Giant of Babil - What was it originally made for? Was it some technology KluYa created as a sort of protecter (If so... yeah, not so much), or was it Dr.Lugae's grand masterpiece?


Why did Leviathan attack the boat on the way to Baron and kill everyone on board (that wasn't a main character?) that is never adequately explained or brought up again

Perhaps he sensed Rydia's power, or was summoned by Golbez to attack? Seeing as he can summon the Shadow Dragon, and Summons don't usually give thier power to just one person, I could picture it happening.

Or on the flipside- maybe Leviathan was just hungry? Hunger gets hunger wants, you know. :finger:
« Last Edit: June 03, 2015, 01:55:27 PM by Bahamut ZERO »
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Grimoire LD

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Re: Making sense of the story
« Reply #3 on: June 03, 2015, 02:13:36 PM »
Quote from: Bahamut ZERO on June 03, 2015, 01:41:11 PM
What's the deal with Golbez's backstory?
This thought was kind of inspired by what Pinkpuff and Grimoire were just discussing on the Unprecedented Crisis thread.
So, OK, I know Square established later that his mind was initially affected by Zemus when his parents died, but... Where did he go? How is it that he was able to work on becoming a super powerful sorcerer and a general of all of earth's evil over a period of seventeen years or so without anybody noticing? And he started out as just a kid. So did he just sit in a cave somewhere working on his dark magic and just stewing in his evil broth for a decade or so?

Hmm, from what I vaguely remember from the little extra part in FFIVDS with Golbez's backstory, I think Zemus starts messing with his head as a child. I also think he might have killed his parents, and afterwards leaves baby Cecil at the castle so he wouldn't harm him next.

Close. Some rival magic users kill KluYa, and it is said that KluYa settled down near Mist (due to the King of Baron in the local vicinity) which may have been part of the reason why Mist is one of Golbez's first targets for utter destruction, possibly blaming them for his father's death. Their mother dies right after Cecil is born and so it would stand to reason that this blow would also cause Golbez to hate his new baby brother.

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If that being the case, I could picture Golbez trying to stay out of sight, vainly wrestling control from Zemus before succumbing to it. I could also picture his magical abilities being mostly Zemus's power amplifying Golbez's own dark power, like how Kain seemed stronger when under Golbez's control.

He did eventually run, but it is noted that the Fiends (or the Four Heavenly Kings) were sent from Zemus to assist Golbez.

Quote
As for KluYa - based on the amount of technology in certain areas, yet none whatsever in others, it feels to me like perhaps he had been there for a few decades, 40-60 years, maybe had started intergrating Lunarian technology on Earth, but then died/was killed after settling down and raising a family. FuSoYa acts like Lunarians can live very long lifespans on the moon, so perhaps KluYa had a slower rate of againg compared to humans?

Due to his dealings with the discovery (or rediscovery) of magic, and Cid translating some older works on flotation theory (maybe written by KluYa in regards to the Lunar Whale) and the Mysidian Legend being known not just to Mysidia but the Dwarves of the Underworld, it seems likely he was around for a rather long time, much more so than half a century.

Quote
Here a few interesting things I've thought about over the years or while working on my project:


How is it that Golbez able to control and command the Four Fiends? I'd understand it if he had thier crystals, but Milon of Earth is the first Fiend he sends after you, but he doesn't have the Earth crystal until Cecil hands it over to him in the Tower of Zot. Were they all under Zeemus's control as well?

I always wondered this myself, were the Four Fiends actually fellow Lunarians? What is interesting is that the DS version lists them all as royalty of sorts. Scarmiglione: Blighted Despot, Cagnazzo: Drowned King, Barbariccia: Empress of the Winds, Rubicante: Autarch of Flame and their original name is "Four Heavenly Kings". It may stand to reason that they supported Zemus's ideas and worked under him. This may hint that Zemus was of a very high rank in Lunarian society, if the title of "Kings" and "Empresses" are meant to be taken literally than Zemus may have been akin to some sort of Emperor himself.  In any event it is canon that they were sent by Zemus in any regard to assist Golbez, they may have partially raised him.

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The old blacksmith in the underground - How did he get in the Underground? Being an old human (and the only one down there besides Lugae) I can't quite grasp how he could have ended up there, unless there used to be a human settlement neaby that was wiped out by monsters.

The 3D versions seem to retcon this. He is an older dwarf in those, rather than a human. It likely means they didn't want to create a special sprite (or palette) for what was meant to be an "old dwarf".

Quote
Finding Rosa sick in Kaipo - First off, how in the world does she beat you to Kaipo? She would've had to run like an Amazon through the fresh mountain ridge that Titan created. And secondly, how is it that this woman in her battle bikini succumbs to heat stroke (more or less), yet the guy wearing heavy black armor carries a small child across the desert in the blazing heat, fights off four armed guards in the middle of the night, and is just fine after a nap?

This did always bother me. I head-canoned that there was a path through the waterfall outside of Baron that lead to the northern Damcyan Desert and that's how she got there. How she got there before (or just a day after) Cecil I do not know. Maybe the trek across the desert and the time he was knocked out was longer than it seemed? Why she succumbed to it, maybe because she didn't have proper survival training like Cecil did? I have no idea on that one.


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The hovercraft - Why is there only one of these things in the world? It's like before settling down, KluYa was traveling the world, teaching different kinds of technologic know-how to different areas.

That's a good possibility. I can't think of any other reason why only Damcyan has a Hovercraft

Quote
The Dark Crystals - Now, the Light Crystals corresponded to an element, yet the Dark Crystals were just... Dark. I've always wondered what they would correspond to; perhaps other elements, or four of the seven deadly sins (Lust, Greed, etc)

Well, Unprecedented Crisis does make the other four crystals out to be the other four FF elements. Ice, Thunder, Holy, Shadow.  What they canonically do, I haven't a clue. Like FFIII they may just be Dark versions of FFIV's elemental crystals.

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the Giant of Babil - What was it originally made for? Was it some technology KluYa created as a sort of protecter (If so... yeah, not so much), or was it Dr.Lugae's grand masterpiece?

The Giant of Babil is mentioned in the story as already being on the Moon and being transported by the Interplanetary Elevator, which I above surmise may have been originally intended to transport the Lunarian Race to the Blue Planet en masse.
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chillyfeez

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Re: Making sense of the story
« Reply #4 on: June 04, 2015, 11:17:13 PM »
*whew* so, lots here. Where to begin...

Quote
he renamed himself Golbez (mistranslation, blah, blah we all know the rest).
Actually, I don't know about this. I know in Japan he's called "Gorubeza," which could work out to Gorubeza, Golubeza, Gorbez, Golbez... but I still don't really see any significance in any of those.

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It is likely he took up residence in the Tower of Babil, which was likely of Lunarian creation before humans had a written history (or had evolved significantly enough) and used that as an anchoring point to keep the moon stabilized in orbit. The Lunarians had a dangerous weapon on the moon with them called the Giant of Babil that... for some reason could be called with interplanetary elevator down to the Tower of Babil (may have been originally purposed for the mass movement of the Lunarians down to the Blue Planet) that Zemus wished to use to wipe out the humans but FuSoYa stopped him and sealed him in a deep sleep.

Hmm... It's got an awful lot of firepower for something that was going to be used as an interplanetary ferryboat. I'd imagine it was designed specifically to wipe out the earthlings. I do believe the tower was a key to the Interplanetary Elevator, though. I believe there is mention of how Golbez needs all eight crystals to activate the tower in order to summon the Giant. So I think the Tower is the mass transportation device, and the Giant, then, is specifically a weapon. I think it's safe to assume that Zemus (and his faction?) created the Giant, but it also seems kind of suspect that FuSoYa didn't destroy it when he subdued Zemus. What, was he hanging onto it just in case those Earthlings turned out to be assholes after all (spoiler: they did - see KluYa)?

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I do feel though that the effects of Zemus' growing power was causing previously peaceful monsters to become restless and lash out, many not necessarily under the direct control of Golbez
Zemus, or Zeromus? I mean, Zemus is just a lunarian, albeit a significant one to this story. Can we presume that, as Golbez was simply doing Zemus's bidding, Zemus was just a pawn of Zeromus? I'm actually kind of exploring this in TfW. In my story, Zeromus is/was sort of a godlike entity from the moon, who the Lunarians were aware of and whose power they could control to a certain extent (channel or block as they see fit), but whose existence was thought to be eternal and interminable. As indicated by "I am the hatred," he/it was primarily a destructive force, and therefore the "good" lunarians expended a considerable amount of power trying to keep him/it in submission. In my story, the Earth has a similar type of force, which will end up being the final boss, and the really fun part of the story will be divulging how that relates/related to the events of the original game. :)

Any thoughts on "Bab-il," by the way? I mean, I know it's a biblical reference, but is there any indication of what the term means to the ffiv universe? I mean, there's a tower and a giant, which are connected, but not really used for exactly the same purpose by any account (that is, yours or mine). So maybe "Bab-il" was a lunarian who was the designer/engineer of these things?

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I do not think Golbez or Rubicante anticipated that they would be able to maintain as much of a presence as they ended up doing, when a cave that burrowed into Babil itself was built.
Ah, see I was thinking that the "Cave of Eblan" was the main (Overworld level) entrance in and out of the tower, but maybe that's not the case, and the Eblanians were being really sneaky building their hideout so close (where they'd least expect it).

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He seems familiar with Cecil and Kain, which leads me to think he may have been working out of Baron for some time. I believe the "Dr" epithet is probably just another name for a doctor of science, because he's clearly a scientist of some sort and not a medical doctor. It is also interesting that Dr. Lugae in the DS remake mentions that he was made "Golbez's chief strategist". In The After Years as well Golbez laments that Lugae had so much potential and how his fate would have turned out had he taken another path. This in itself leads to another question, we know that Golbez has humans working alongside his monsters, whether it be knights with flame magic, dark knights, girls wielding both swords and magic, so clearly he is attracting more than just your typical evil monsters to his side, but also humans of various professions.

I hold that Lugae was probably some sort of scientist working out of Baron who was enticed by Golbez to join him on his quest and that he was Golbez's chief strategist it goes to show how much trust was placed in him.
Yeah, I kinda thought that, too, that it's more doctor of science than doctor of medicine. Though he does at least dabble in the (always lucrative) field of mad biology.
It always seems strange to me, though, when Final Fantasy tries to put traditional science (primarily medicine) into its largely fantastical worlds. FFVIII is a big offender with this one, too, with Dr. Kadowaki (another "only doctor in the world").

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Oh he's old. Really old. The Lunar Whale is just a legend by the time of FFIV, but it was the vehicle that KluYa used to get here. FuSoYa is similarly old as he was the one to seal Zemus in a long removed time. KluYa did not only develop technology, but also the basic arts of magic (seeming to retcon the God of Magic, Minwu out of the game's lore. It is a little difficult to say, but the original game itself did mention that KluYa taught men magic) to the people of the Blue Planet. According to the Scenario Book, the civilization of FFIV is around 800 years old because the world itself is "fairly new".
Yeah, I guess that seems like the more sensible possibility. Although, I don't know if you watch Doctor Who, but if you do, remember that episode ("The Doctor's Daughter") with the cloning device, where it turned out they were only on the planet for like a month, but it seemed like centuries to them because their lifespan was only a day or two? When you shorten the scope of history, what happened 75 years ago might seem like ancient history (bear in mind, Cecil has ascended to the position of captain of the royal air force by the age of ... 18? Yang is around 40 or so, but he's king of Fabul by the end of the story, and it doesn't seem like the old king was killed or anything... Tellah seems really old, but his daughter is youngish amd engaged to ~25 year-old Edward... So we really can't assume the life expectancy is very long in this world.
Assuming, though, that Human history is at least a few centuries old, and that KluYa lived for at least a couple of those centuries, do you still think that Cecilia was the only woman he ever had kids with? Or maybe do Cecil and Theodor have some other surprise siblings out there?

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Rydia is far from the "Last Summoner" as the Summoners in the Feymarch itself would attest. Plus there's an old man in the Village of Mist who says "we" in regards to Summoners when referring to where the Summons come from
There are other summoners in the feymarch? Are you talking about the monsters you fight on the way there? I don't think they're the same thing, but even if they are, they're in the Underworld, so it's safe to assume most surface-dwellers would be completely oblivious to their existence.
That old man and his "we" did always get me, though...

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Why did Leviathan attack the boat on the way to Baron and kill everyone on board (that wasn't a main character?) that is never adequately explained or brought up again.
Assuming that Rydia is the last real summoner, I always thought Leviathan was taking her away to protect her from the rest of the world, which in the wake of the destruction of her village he could have perceived as too dangerous a place for her at the time. With that specific goal in mind, damn the collateral damage. What's the lives of a few "dangerous" humans in order to spare the Last Summoner? ... Clearly Leviathan was not a disciple of John Stuart Mill.

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Finding Rosa sick in Kaipo - First off, how in the world does she beat you to Kaipo? She would've had to run like an Amazon through the fresh mountain ridge that Titan created. And secondly, how is it that this woman in her battle bikini succumbs to heat stroke (more or less), yet the guy wearing heavy black armor carries a small child across the desert in the blazing heat, fights off four armed guards in the middle of the night, and is just fine after a nap?
Hmm... Very compelling. Furthermore, why did she go to Kaipo if Cecil was only supposed to go as far as Mist? She must not have set out until the earthquake. Unless she wasn't going to find Cecil and Kain, but instead just fleeing Baron because the "King" had seemingly gone mad.  At any rate, I think it's pretty certain that she did not take the same path as Cecil.
Ooh - maybe Cid flew her away in an airship, and this is one of several treasonous acts that got him imprisoned!

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The hovercraft - Why is there only one of these things in the world? It's like before settling down, KluYa was traveling the world, teaching different kinds of technologic know-how to different areas
I think the hovercraft being Damcyanian has to do primarily with the geography of the kingdom. It's the only kingdom that is separated into several pieces by water and mountains, so they needed to develop a way to get from the castle to Kaipo, to the Antlion cave.

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The Dark Crystals - Now, the Light Crystals corresponded to an element, yet the Dark Crystals were just... Dark. I've always wondered what they would correspond to; perhaps other elements, or four of the seven deadly sins (Lust, Greed, etc)
Maybe we're not thinking about the crystals in the right way. We know that in ffv the crystals are largely responsible for the elemental forces, but maybe that's not how ffiv crystals work. Maybe ffiv crystals draw their power from the elements.
To wit: The Water Crystal is in Mysidia, on that little peninsula surrounded by ocean. The Earth Crystal is in Toroia, surrounded by denmse forest. The Fire Crystal is in Damcyan, in the middle of the desert, where it's always hot. The Wind Crystal is in Fabul... This one isn't quite as convenient to explain, but we know they have a considerable fleet of sailing ships. Maybe there is a lot of wind in that part of the world?
So these are all "elements," a term traditionally used to describe meteorological forces. In the underworld, they don't have weather. They just have magma. So if we can assume the Overworld Crystals absorbed the most significant surrounding elements, then so did the Underworld crystals, only they just absorbed... Dark and lava. Because that's all there is down there...?
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